By Mike Cranston
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE ó The latest loss in Xavier’s puzzling slide left coach Sean Miller fuming and Charlotte celebrating like old times.
With top scorer Lamont Mack getting hot late in the game, the 49ers stunned No. 16 Xavier 65-60 on Thursday at Halton Arena.
On a night the jersey of 2005 Conference USA player of the year Eddie Basden was retired, the 49ers played like the teams that used to contend in that competitive league before realignment, leaving their suffering fans pouring onto the court following a game that had 24 lead changes and 17 ties.
“This team, I’ve said it all year, has never quit and never stopped believing despite all the injuries and adversity that we’ve had,” coach Bobby Lutz said. “It’s amazing how hard they work and how much they believe that we can beat anybody we play.
“We also know that we’ve got a fine margin for error.”
It’s why the 49ers (10-15, 4-7 Atlantic 10) needed the five 3-pointers and 16 points from Ian Andersen and why the tide turned when Mack got out of his funk, scoring all 12 points in the final eight minutes, including a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to put Charlotte ahead 62-58.
C.J. Anderson had 13 points for Xavier (21-5, 9-3) in its third straight road loss. It fell to second place behind Dayton in the A-10.
Upset with confusion over who should go first in the postgame news conference, Miller declined to come to the podium and released a brief statement.
“We need to fix some things,” Miller said, “and it needs to start with practice tomorrow.”