A late Charlotte surge ultimately sank Indiana State's men's basketball team in the season and home opener 78-70 Monday night in Hulman Center.
The 49ers drilled three consecutive 3-pointers to get the momentum for good with Frank Oguche nailing the go-ahead 3 with 6:03 to go.
Keyshaun Tillery led Charlotte with 29 points, while Karmani Gregory led the Sycamores with 29. Dorian Finister finished with a double double for Charlotte with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Duce Paschal led ISU in rebounds with five.
With Paschal's nine points, he said the key to that was the preparation and that the coaching staff did a great job making sure they knew what they'd see in the game.
ISU coach Matthew Graves said he doesn't think most people understand how fast Tillery is.
As far as Gregory's scoring outburst, Gregory said he and his teammates knew going in how Charlotte likes to be aggressive and trap. He said because of that, he and the coaching staff worked on that in practice over the past week.
"Practice and preparation helped us for anything they threw at us," Gregory said.
E.J. McQuillan, Gregory, Maguire Mitchell, Jackson Cooper and Alessio Calamita started for ISU on Monday night.
Tillery scooted past an ISU defender for the first bucket of the game before airballing a 3-pointer on the 49ers' next possession. Charlotte built up a 4-0 lead before ISU's Mitchell lofted a shot up and in over a defender. Cooper tied the game with a layup in traffic. Gregory followed that up with a trey to give ISU the lead 7-6. Mitchell matched Gregory with a 3-pointer to make it 10-6.
The game was tight in the early going as the two sides traded buckets. As the first half winded down, ISU went on a run with Chance Puryear knocking down a 3-pointer to give the Sycamores a 27-24 lead with Mitchell following that up with one of his own for a 10-0 run. At halftime, the Sycamores held a 30-27 lead after Tillery answered with a 3-pointer.
Obviously that 10-0 run wasn't enough momentum for ISU in the end with Graves saying the biggest thing was Charlotte making 3-pointers. The 49ers went 12-25 from deep.
"The 3-point shot is a great equalizer in college basketball," Graves said.
ISU and Charlotte traded buckets early on in the second half as the 49ers held a slight lead until Cooper tied the game at 40. The physicality ramped up with players like Gregory bodying up for a bucket as he went to the floor drawing an and-1 of which he converted to pull ISU within two.
Arden Conyers drilled a 3-pointer with 12:36 to go to put Charlotte up seven. Mitchell answered with a trey of his own to pull ISU within four. Charlotte started to build momentum with three consecutive 3-pointers including two back-to-back from Tillery. With Charlotte up eight, ISU called time with 4:47 to go. But the Sycamores couldn't get a rally going to push past Charlotte.
Gregory said the Sycamores need to get stops.
"We work on that in practice a lot, but they were hitting a lot of tough shots," Gregory said. "We have to lock in even more."
The glaring category for ISU ultimately came down to rebounds with Charlotte winning that battle 40-25. Both Graves and Gregory acknowledged that and noted how it has to improve with Graves noting defensive rebounds.
He also said the team's ball-screen coverage needs to get better.
But he gave Charlotte credit, noting how when the Sycamores took the lead, ISU punched right back.
"We didn't have an answer that second time," Graves said.
CHARLOTTE (78) — Tillery 9-15 4-4 29, Finister 4-7 2-2 11, Oguche 2-4 4-4 9, Conyers 2-5 0-0 6, Grant 2-3 0-1 5, McKinley 1-2 2-4 4, Walz 2-4 0-0 4, Harris 1-7 1-2 3, Fort 1-2 1-2 3, Allen 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-52 FG, 14-19 FT, 78 TP.
INDIANA STATE (70) — Gregory 11-22 5-6 29, Mitchell 6-11 0-0 15, Paschal 3-5 3-4 9, Cooper 3-7 2-2 8, Speckman 2-3 0-0 4, Puryear 1-4 0-0 3, Calamita 1-6 0-0 2, McQuillan 0-3 0-0 0, Vlajic 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-61 FG, 10-12 FT, 70 TP.
Halftime — ISU 30-27. 3-point shooting — Charlotte 12-25 (Tillery 7-10, Grant 1-1, Conyers 2-5, Finister 1-2, Oguche 1-3, Walz 0-1, Rodriguez-Stegemijer 0-1, Harris 0-2. ISU 6-20 (Mitchell 3-6, Gregory 2-6, Puryear 1-3, Speckman 0-1, Calamita 0-1). Rebounds — Charlotte 40 (Finister 10), ISU 25 (Paschal 5). Assists — Charlotte 10 (Finister 5), ISU 15 (Gregory 8). Steals — Charlotte 3, ISU 9 (Mitchell, McQueen and Puryear 2). Turnovers — Charlotte 16, ISU 7. Blocks — Charlotte 5 (Marshall 2, Rodriguez-Stegemeijer, Fort and Allen), ISU 4 (Gregory, Mitchell, Speckman and Puryear). Total fouls — Charlotte 15, ISU 15. Fouled out — none.
Next — ISU (0-1) plays at Ball State at 7 p.m. Friday. Charlotte (1-0) hosts Georgia State on Thursday.
