In the latest tantalizing chapter of an underrated rivalry, Davidson edged Charlotte, 75-71, at the Wildcats’ home gym Tuesday night.
Davidson’s campus is only a 30-minute drive from Charlotte’s, and the two schools sometimes recruit the same players. Each year about this time they compete for the Hornets’ Nest Trophy, which looks like the sort of thing that you never, ever want to run into in your backyard. And the fighting spirit and floor burns this game produces always feel genuine, as the two teams compete for local bragging rights in contests that almost always come down to the final minute.
So it was with Tuesday’s back-and-forth affair, played in front of a modest but loud crowd of 3,126 at Davidson.
Charlotte shot 61.5% in the first half, as the 49ers made just about everything and led 44-41 at halftime. Charlotte cooled off in the second half, Davidson heated up, and before too long the Wildcats were up by 14 points not long after they played “Sweet Caroline” (which, at Davidson, is traditionally at the under-8 timeout).
But then the 49ers made one final surge, drawing to within two points with 55 seconds to go on a driving Nik Graves layup. Davidson got a massive 3-pointer from Zach Laput at 0:42, and that proved to be the decisive basket for a Davidson team that seems equipped to make a nice run this year.
“They’ve got a good core back,” Charlotte coach Aaron Fearne said of Davidson, “and so they have a good beauty to the way they move and do what they do.”
Davidson (7-2) has three starters returning from a year ago in Reed Bailey, Connor Kochera and Bobby Durkin. That trio combined for 43 of Davidson’s 75 points Tuesday night and largely led the second-half surge after Davidson survived Charlotte’s torrid first half.
Davidson has won nine of the past 12 meetings between the two teams, including last year’s at Halton Arena. Oddly, this rivalry game had been won by the road team the past four times in a row before Tuesday.
“Being able to do it with all our fans there,” Davidson coach Matt McKillop, “and hold (the trophy) up like that on our court, on that Davidson logo, makes it a little more special.”
Charlotte (4-4) had more turnover among its core players than Davidson did in the offseason, and the 49ers were also missing a key component in forward Giancarlo Rosado (12.8 points, 6.5 rebounds per game). He had a minor knee injury and should be back soon. Nevertheless, Graves helped push Charlotte forward, scoring a game-high 23 points. He’s a left-handed dervish of a guard with a penchant for getting inside and getting fouled — he drew six of them Tuesday.
Two years ago, Davidson had lost this game at home in Belk Arena when Jackson Threadgill hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and Charlotte won, 68-66. Bailey, Davidson’s athletic big man, played in that game and still remembers how it felt to lose on his home court in that way.
“I mean, it was a heartbreaker,” said Bailey, who scored a team-high 18 points Tuesday and contributed seven rebounds and five assists. “When you look back on it, you’re kind of happy you went through that, because it leaves that bad taste in your mouth, and you don’t want it to happen again.”
For Charlotte, there’s some serious potential, but it’s going to be a lot of work to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 49ers last did it in 2005. For Davidson, a berth seems a bit more doable.
For both, though, the Hornets’ Nest rivalry should always be played. It’s good for the two teams that always need an early-season test at this point of the year, and for the city of Charlotte.