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Rice University
Next Game:
vs. Rice University
3/12/2025 | 1:00 PM
Mar. 12 (Wed) / 1:00 PM
Rice University
vs. Rice University
History
CHARLOTTE – With a combined 43 points, the backcourt duo of Nik Graves and Kylan Blackmon, nearly willed the Charlotte 49ers (10-21, 3-15 AAC) to an American Athletic Conference victory in the regular-season finale but UTSA (12-18, 6-12) escaped with the 83-80 win in Halton Arena on the Niners' Senior Day on Sunday, March 9.
Trailing 81-74 with under two minutes to play, Charlotte fought back to earn a chance to force overtime, but Giancarlo Rosado's halfcourt shot with 1.8 seconds remaining could not find the bottom of the net. The last-ditch chance was made possible by freshman Ben Bradford securing an offensive rebound and making a pair of free throws with 2.9 seconds on the clock. The Roadrunners, with a chance to ice the game and push the lead to four, missed both of their free throws to set up Rosado's heave.
Kylan Blackmon finished with 22 points, a season-high for the fifth-year senior. He made 9-of-10 field goals, four-of-five triples, and pulled down seven boards. Blackmon made his first seven shots, including four straight baskets en route to 16 points in the second half. Nik Graves scored 21 points, including 16 in the first half. In his 12th 20-point game of the season, the Durham, N.C., native shot five-of-seven from beyond the arc and six-of-eight from the free throw line.
The Niners will now turn their attention to the 2025 American Athletic Conference Championship, where they will face 12-seeded Rice in the first round on Wednesday, March 12 at The Super Pit in Denton, Texas.
"What we've talked about here the last three or four weeks is—details. Attention to detail, the little things," said Charlotte Head Men's Basketball Coach Aaron Fearne. "Like I've said from week one, the game is about mistakes, and it's who ultimately makes the least."
THE BLACKMON SHOW IN THE SECOND HALF
Blackmon delivered two clutch triples in the second half to keep the Niners afloat. With 3:13 remaining, he took a handoff from Rosado and drained the three-pointer to trim the Roadrunners' lead from 79-71 to 79-74. In transition, following a defensive rebound by Bradford, Blackmon planted himself in the corner where Folkes found him for the three-ball. The Oxford, Miss., native followed that up with another triple to cut the deficit to 81-78 with 1:17 remaining.
Strike a pose👌KB with a season-high 22🔥‼️#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt pic.twitter.com/FE9xcxGoK9— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
Blackmon went on a scoring run by himself, scoring five consecutive field goals, including eight straight points, to keep pace with UTSA. His first basket in the span, a three off a feed from Graves, put Charlotte back in front with a 44-43 lead, and his last field goal in the run, a triple at the top of the key that followed a steal by Folkes, broke a 50-50 tie with 13:48 to play. The stretch also featured a beautiful turnaround elbow jumper and the jumper to tie the game at 50-all. However, the Roadrunners countered with an 8-0 run to take a 58-53 lead.
KB has scored the last 🔟 points for us🔥🔥He's a perfect 7-for-7 from the field 🤯#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt https://t.co/RvbPcZic8y pic.twitter.com/GIsR6lYNvo— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
Back in front😎 KB has 9 points (4-4 FG) and 5 rebounds.#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt pic.twitter.com/s6e6v9O8fa— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
HOW IT HAPPENED
A missed UTSA shot following the Blackmon triple to cut the deficit to 81-78 gave the Niners a chance to cut the deficit to one. However, Charlotte committed a turnover on the possession. With 14 seconds remaining in the game, the Roadrunners corralled the offensive rebound off their missed shot, forcing the 49ers to foul. UTSA made both free throws to push its lead to five before the two free throws by Bradford and the missed pair later by UTSA.
The Niners and the Roadrunners spent most of the second half trading baskets. When UTSA drained a three-pointer to take a 70-64 lead, Nik Graves answered back in the very next possession with a triple as the shot clock expired to bring the game back to three points. Bradford ventured into the paint to sink back-to-back buckets in consecutive possessions. His second layup made it a 74-71 score game.
Over the final 3:39, Charlotte held UTSA scoreless from the field as the Roadrunners missed their last four shots to give the Niners a chance to force overtime.
𝑫𝑨𝑵𝑪𝑬 𝑶𝑵 𝑬𝑴#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt pic.twitter.com/X3hvi6yfvJ— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
In the first half, UTSA used an 8-0 scoring run to briefly pull away as the Roadrunners ballooned their lead from 28-25 to 35-25 with four minutes remaining in the period. Rich Rolf stopped the run with a corner three off an assist from Blackmon.
Rich from the corner👀#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt pic.twitter.com/VFW7yfiLfp— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
THE GRAVES SHOW IN THE FIRST HALF
Graves ended the first half by intercepting an inbound pass with 2.4 seconds remaining and calmly draining the deep triple. That basket gave him 16 points in the period and his fourth triple of the half as Charlotte entered halftime down 39-38. Down 37-28 late in the stanza, Graves added a pair of free throws and then, following a Roadrunners turnover, swished a triple at the top of the arc while getting fouled to further trim the deficit to 37-33.
His first basket of the day was a triple to give Charlotte a 7-4 lead. Trailing 20-14, he found a cutting Rolf for a dunk and his first assist. His second basket was a deep triple with the shot clock expiring.
We'll take that 💪#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt pic.twitter.com/MpbBafEIJN— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
AND ONE😤#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt pic.twitter.com/bX30efn60G— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
Deep 👌#GoldStandard ⛏️ x #jUSt pic.twitter.com/gJSMlO7oaZ— Charlotte Men's Basketball (@CharlotteMBB) March 9, 2025
STAT FACTS
Robert Braswell IV finished with 12 points, four rebounds, and a block. Rosado led the team with four assists and seven rebounds.
Off the bench, Bradford scored nine points on three-of-four shooting from the field, and he tallied four rebounds and two assists.
The Niners shot just 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
Charlotte outrebounded UTSA 30-29. The Niners fall to 8-5 when they win or tie the rebounding battle. Despite owning just a 12-11 advantage in offensive rebounds, the Roadrunners outscored the 49ers 19-10 in second-chance points.
The Niners also made 12 triples, which is the second-most this season. The Niners entered Sunday 4-1 when they made at least 10 three-pointers.
SENIOR DAY
At pregame, Charlotte honored the careers of Isaiah Folkes, Giancarlo Rosado, Dean Reiber, Tyler Fearne, Nika Metskhvarishvili, and student-manager Ethan Finlayson.
MBB Senior Day
UP NEXT
Charlotte will face Rice in the first-round matchup of the 2025 American Athletic Conference Championship. The 49ers will face the Owls at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas, on Wednesday, March 12 at 1 p.m. The winner advances to Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, to play fifth-seed Florida Atlantic on Thursday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m.
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