Barnett was tonight's MVP, he looks ready to take over in his final season.

Niner fans haven’t left Halton Arena with a smile on their face in a long time. In fact, it was nine months ago yesterday that Charlotte upset Xavier for its last victory of the season. Tonight’s game may not have counted, but nobody can deny the feeling that comes with a win, especially with a 104-52 score, like the one Charlotte posted against Belmont Abbey.

The game started out with Charlotte taking (and making) many open 3-point baskets, going four for six, with the only bad shot being Braswell’s. Those early 3-pointers accounted for our only scoring until Freshman E Victor Nickerson knocked in a couple of free throws seven minutes into the game. The Crusaders were able to keep up with the Niners for about ten minutes before falling flat offensively while long range shots kept falling for Charlotte. The Niners went into the break having made 10 of 16 3-point attempts, leading 48-25.

Here at GTG, we won’t hesitate to call out the team (especially Chris Braswell) for taking ill advised, bad, ugly, well covered long-distance shots; just see the ramblings after we lost to Dayton last season. But these were wide open shots for the most part, and the ball movement was top of the line as it should be against a mediocre Division II team. The second half was more of the same, with Charlotte eventually exploding again, getting to 104 points, the first time in triple-digits in any kind of game since dropping a Benjamin (Franklin) on Youngstown State in 2008.

Charlotte was led by Javarris Barnett, who sank six out of seven 3-pointers, finishing with 24 points. Eleven other players broke into the scoring column, a very refreshing stat after a season in which no more than nine players rarely, if ever, saw the court in any game. Five others broke into double-digits, with Derrio Green scoring 12 (4/7 from 3), followed by freshman E. Victor Nickerson’s 11 points, plus 10 points apiece were recorded by Chris Braswell, DeMario Mayfield and Jamar Briscoe.

Freshman point guard Pierria Henry got the start tonight, and was impressive in his debut. His four assists were second only to Derrio Green’s five.  The offense was at its finest when Henry was at the point, and even if he didn’t get a remarkable high assist total he was clearly the premiere floor general. He also converted two extraordinary plays: saving a long pass on the break before making the layup, and recovering his own deflected pass to the post to knock in a short distance jump-shot.

As the time on the clock approached zero, it was Mike Thorne who took the ball to the rim for the game’s 100th (and 101st points), and Colby Lewis drained a Plavy-esque long range shot shortly afterwards get the final score.

With NCAA tournament teams from last season finding ways to lose their exhibitions (here’s looking at you, Butler), it was good to see Charlotte do what we expected, walloping a Division II team by 52. There is a lot of potential (and players) on the court, and hopefully these 49ers can pick up where they left off tonight when the game against NC Central tips-off next Friday.