Brothers buries Charlotte
Despite three players in double-figures it was not enough as the Charlotte 49ers (15-3, A-10: 3-1) fell on the road at Richmond (12-7, A-10: 2-2), 81-61, for their first Atlantic 10 loss.
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"We got away from our blueprint which is defense," Charlotte coach Alan Major said. "You have to give credit to Darien Brothers who took it upon himself to get his team going. He played a tremendous game. It is a good lesson for us that if we get away from your blueprint it is tough to beat a good team on the road."
Pierria Henry led the 49ers with 16 points. DeMario Mayfield recorded his 12th double-figure scoring game off the bench this season with 11 points. Chris Braswell nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. J.T. Thompson scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench.
Richmond's Darien Brothers led all scorers with 39 points.
The 49ers bench behind the scoring of Mayfield and Thompson finished the game with a 26-14 advantage in bench points. Charlotte has now outscored 15 opponents on points in the paint this season after finishing the game with a 34-20 advantage on points in the paint.
Richmond's Brothers scored the Spiders first 17 points pacing Richmond to a 17-7 lead at the 12:42 mark of the first half.
Baskets by Thompson and Mayfield cut Richmond's lead to 17-11 with 10:22 on the clock.
Richmond scored nine of the next 14 points pushing their lead to 26-12 with 8:05 on the clock.
Charlotte went on a 6-0 run behind the scoring of E. Victor Nickerson and Mayfield cutting Richmond's first half lead to 26-18 at the 6:50 mark.
Richmond pushed their first half lead to 15 points when Brothers connected on a three with 3:57 left in the half.
Charlotte closed out the first half on an 8-3 run cutting Richmond's halftime lead to 38-28.
With Richmond leading 44-32 with 17:35 on the second half clock, Charlotte's Henry scored seven straight points cutting Richmond's lead to 44-39 with 15:36 left in the second half.
However, five points would be as close as Charlotte would get as Richmond went on an 11-0 run over the next five minutes pushing their lead to 55-39 with 10:37 on the clock.
The 49ers to action when they host A-10 foe Xavier in Halton Arena, Wednesday, January 23 at 7:30 pm. Charlotte has designated the game a Whiteout so fans are encouraged to wear white to the Charlotte-Xavier game on Wednesday.