Tulane University
Charlotte
Men's Basketball Falls To N.C. Charlotte
Feb 26, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2000
By JOE MACENKA
AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Tremaine Gardiner had a career-high 23 points and North Carolina Charlotte used a 27-3 first-half run to cruise to a 78-59 victory over Tulane's cold-shooting Green Wave on Saturday.
Gardiner, a senior forward, made seven of 11 field-goal attempts and added nine rebounds as North Carolina Charlotte (14-13, 6-8 Conference USA) won for just the second time in seven games.
James Zimmerman added 19 points and Diego Guevara had 10 for the 49ers, who shot 58 percent in the first half on the way to ending a three-game losing skid at home, their worst slide in the four-year history of Halton Arena.
The Green Wave (18-8, 7-7) shot 27 percent in the first half and wound up at 33 percent. Tulane got 22 points from Morris Jordan, but Sterling Davis, the Green Wave's best scorer, picked up two quick personals and eventually fouled out with just four points on 2-for-10 shooting.
Tulane cut its deficit to 9-8 on a short jumper by Waitari Marsh before everything fell apart for the Green Wave over the next 11-plus minutes. Tulane missed 12 of its next 13 field-goal attempts and turned it over seven times, fueling a run that gave the 49ers a 25-point lead.
North Carolina Charlotte made 10 of its 18 field-goal attempts in the surge, going up 36-11 on a follow shot by Gardiner.
North Carolina Charlotte kept pulling away from there, going up by as many as 32 on the way to a 50-19 halftime lead.
Tulane, the least-productive team in Conference USA from 3-point range, found itself forced to rely on outside shooting in the second half, and the tactic didn't work. The Green Wave made just one of 13 from beyond the arc in the half and got no closer than 18 points.
