Temple guards gets past Charlotte defense to advance to semifinals. photo by Calvin Hickerson
FORT WORTH, Texas – Charlotte 49ers claimed a No. 3 seed in its first season in the American Athletic Conference but the 49ers were upended by No. 11 Temple (15-19), 58-54, in the Quarterfinals of the 2024 American Athletic Conference Championship Friday evening. The Niners fell to 19-12 on the season. They went 13-5 in conference play.
photo by Calvin Hickerson
Behind a second half rally, the Temple University men’s basketball team took down the third-seeded Charlotte 49ers, 58-54, to advance to the semifinals of the AAC Championship on Friday night. Steve Settle III led the Owls with 14 points while grabbing six boards. Jordan RIley had 11 points and took down 10 rebounds. It is the fourth all-time double-double for Temple in the AAC Tournament. Sam Hofman had six points and six rebounds.
photo by Calvin Hickerson
“Obviously disappointed that we couldn’t play better tonight is really the disappointing thing,” said Charlotte Head Coach Aaron Fearne. “We didn’t shoot the ball great and didn’t think we did a very good job of keeping them off the glass in that first half and taking care of the ball. There was some scheme things that we wanted to take care of that we didn’t quite do well enough.”
photo by Calvin Hickerson
It was a slow start to the night as Charlotte led 22-18 at halftime after both teams combined to shoot 12-of-49 (24.5 percent) from the field in the first period. In the second half, Temple hit another gear offensively, outscoring the 49ers, 40-32, in the final frame. Temple shot 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field in the second half. In contrast, Charlotte shot 35.5 percent (11-of-31) and made just five of its first 20 shots in the last period.
“In the second half, they were able to get on the rim and get downhill and they made some pretty tough shots,” said Coach Fearne. “But ultimately, at the end of the day, we just didn’t shoot the ball well enough… When you get to playoff basketball, the physicality goes way up and we definitely felt that today. We talked about it. We knew it was going to be that. You have to be able to go deal with it and execute the ball pressure, making leads, posting up, working off ball screens.”
photo by Calvin Hickerson
Lu’Cye Patterson poured in a game-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting. He also added five boards, two blocks, two steals, and two assists. Igor Milicic Jr pulled a down career-high and team-season-high 16 rebounds. Nik Graves added 14 points.
“I think [the future of Charlotte] is very bright, I’m extremely excited about the future ahead, and we’ll keep growing this thing,” added Coach Fearne.