CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A gritty effort by the UWG men's basketball team fell short on Tuesday night in the Tar Heel State as the Wolves fell 75-70 to the Charlotte 49ers on the road.
Playing for the first time in 10 days, West Georgia (1-11) shot 52 percent from the field but a wide margin at the free throw line proved to be the difference. The Wolves sent Charlotte (6-4) to the foul line 31 times and the home team made the most of it, making 27 attempts and edging out the Wolves by a five-point margin while UWG went 6-of-11 from the stripe.
"That's the difference in the game right there, we were minus-21 at the foul line," said head coach Dave Moore following the loss, "But I'm proud of the guys. They fought hard, and we battled a tough team at their place. They shot 31 foul shots and we shot 11, and got beat by five. But again, I'm proud of them and we're getting better."
West Georgia played well defensively, holding Charlotte under 40 percent from the field and held their own on the boards, matching the 49ers, 34-34, but could not overcome the discrepancy at the free throw line.
Rickey Ballard had his best game in a UWG uniform, scoring a career-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and a 4-of-5 clip from distance. The Coral Springs, Florida native also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds in the loss.
"He was terrific, and he can do that when he's making shots like that," Moore said of Ballard's performance. "He got on the glass with seven defensive rebounds and he had a big stick-back offensively. But I thought his shot-making kept us in the game and gave us a great chance to win."
The two teams played a very even first half of basketball in the Queen City, with neither team getting too much of an advantage. Charlotte would, however, lead for the majority of the half after UWG scored on the game's opening possession. Charlotte would lead 14-7 at the 14-minute mark, but the advantage would quickly shrink as Kyric Davis hit a tough bucket for an and-one that made the Charlotte lead one, at 14-13.
At the 7:10 mark, Tamaury Releford would tie the game at 18-18 on a three-point play of his own, and from that point it was essentially shot-for-shot with Charlotte eventually going up by five before a Releford field goal in the closing minute cut the Wolves' halftime deficit to three at 34-31. Releford led the Wolves with 11 first half points while Ballard hit all three of UWG's three-pointers to have nine at the break
Charlotte scored the first five points of the second half to stretch their lead to eight, which would be the largest of the night, but by the 13:20 mark, UWG had fought back to tie it up at 47-47. Less than two minutes later, UWG took the lead at 50-49, which was the first lead for the Wolves since the game's opening possession.
It was shot-for-shot over the next few minutes until a steal and a dunk by there 49ers' Robert Braswell flipped the momentum to put Charlotte up by five with with just over four minutes to play.
West Georgia had more fight left in them, however, getting it to one possession on a layup by Ballard with just over a minute remaining. Charlotte's leading scorer then answered with what amounted to a dagger of a three-pointer to end UWG's hopes at an upset, road victory.
Releford finished with 15 points as the Wolves' second-leading scorer while Shelton Williams-Dryden added 13 and Davis finished with nine. Malcolm Noel had a good night running point guard, dishing out six assists with just one turnover.
Braswell and Nik Graves, Charlotte's leading scorer, both finished with 20 to lead the 49ers.
The Wolves now regroup for a return home on Saturday to take on Brewton-Parker in a game that Moore calls a must win at home in the final tune-up before the Holidays and ASUN Conference play begins.
"I want to see absolute must-win urgency. We need to win, and celebrate in our locker room after the game you know before going home for Christmas and be feeling good about how we're playing when we come back," continued Moore.
Upon coming back, UWG will then make final preparations for the ASUN gauntlet which begins on January 2 at home.
"Back in the old days in D2, we'd come back and have three days to get ready and then go to Huntsville, but now we've got a week to get ready and practice and get better," Moore added. "We've got some big-time challenges ahead of us in the ASUN, and I know I'm excited about them, and the guys are too. If we're a team that can continue to get better, and we're a better team now than we were November 4 when we first played, but if we can keep getting better, we are going to be a tough out come February."
UWG's final non-conference game is set for Saturday, December 21 against NAIA opponent Brewton-Parker. Tip-off from The Coliseum is set for 2 p.m.
