Men's Basketball Falls On The Road Against Charlotte
January 11, 2004 | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Curtis Withers had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead Charlotte to an 81-65 win over East Carolina on Saturday.
Brendan Plavich added 14 points on 4-of-10 3-point shooting and Demon Brown scored 13 for the 49ers (10-3, 2-0 Conference USA), who forced 22 turnovers in winning their fourth straight game.
Derrick Wiley had 15 points while Japhet McNeil added 13 and Gabriel Mikulas 12 for the Pirates (8-4, 0-2), who lost their third straight and dropped to 0-17 in league road games since joining Conference USA.
''What's really kicking us right now is the turnovers,'' ECU coach Bill Herrion said. ''We had 22 against UAB the other night and had 22 tonight. You do that and you have no chance.''
Charlotte raced to a 15-2 lead on Withers' jumper with 14:30 left. The Pirates slowly fought back, getting to within 42-37 on Wiley's goaltended shot with 18:47 left in the game. But Brown hit a 3-pointer to spark 15-2 run to put Charlotte ahead 55-39 with 14:34 left.
ECU would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way as it lost to its in-state rival for the sixth straight time.
A sellout crowd of 9,105 watched the game, drawn by pop singer Clay Aiken, a Charlotte alumni who sang the national anthem and performed at halftime.
''I don't think any of our players have any of his CDs, but I think they fed off the enthusiasm and energy,'' Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said.
Many of the Aiken fans left at halftime and missed Withers record his Conference USA-leading eighth double-double.
East Carolina starting guard Belton Rivers left the game with a dislocated finger.
