Photo by Kaitlyn Hungerford
Another game, another big deficit with a big last minute comeback, and the result the same on the record. That is the story Saturday evening for MTSU basketball in Charlotte in another loss for the Blue Raiders.
The 49ers (8-5, 2-0 C-USA) led by as much as 22 in the contest, but MTSU (4-11, 0-2 C-USA) caught fire in the final ten minutes going on a 25-6 run to eventually cut the deficit to one with a minute remaining.
However, the comeback would fall short, with Charlotte ending the game on its own 5-0 spurt to seal the victory.
Donovan Sims had perhaps his best performance of the season racking up 20 points and five assists hitting a few three-point shots to get MTSU back in business.
C.J. Jones made the jumper to trim the lead to one en route to another solid game. Jones finished with 16 points which is on pace with his current season average of 16.3 points per game despite having to avoid foul trouble in the final minutes.
Jones is also balancing a 47% field goal percentage with a 45% three-point make percentage making him the most balanced producer on offense for MTSU. It’s not crazy to think MTSU would be even deeper in trouble without the solid production from Jones halfway through this season.
Antonio Green started off the bench and made his way onto the court after a few minutes. Green had a good day with ten points and played most of the game following his brief reprieve to open the contest.
At the end of the day, MTSU is 4-11 and rock bottom of a generally weak Conference USA which is not a good omen for the back half of the season for the Blue Raiders.
And despite the injuries and accepted consensus that MTSU is still rebuilding following the total collapse following Kermit Davis’ departure, head coach Nick McDevitt and his team will need to start showing results that appear in the win column and not the moral victory one in Year 2.
What’s Next:
MTSU will return to the Murphy Center on January 9th at 6:30 p.m. to play Marshall in its first home conference game of the 2019-20 season. The Thundering Herd are 7-8 on the year and will make the trip to Murfreesboro following a tight loss to North Texas on Saturday.
To contact Sports Editor Nathan Vaughan, email sports@mtsusidelines.com.
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