NORFOLK. Va. (ODU Athletic Communications)- The Old Dominion men’s basketball team (10-3, 1-0 C-USA) won its fifth straight game after dominating Charlotte (4-8, 1-0 C-USA) by an 89-58 score in the Conference USA opener on Saturday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
Trey Porter slams home a dunk against Charlotte
Old Dominion is now 5-0 in its Conference USA openers. Jeff Jones is now just one victory shy of his 100th at ODU (99-54).
Ahmad Caver scored a team-high 22 points (8-13 FG) to go along with a game-high eight assists, three rebounds and three steals to pace the Monarchs. Randy Haynes (six rebounds and three assists), B.J. Stith (seven rebounds and three assists) and Trey Porter (eight rebounds and two blocks) each poured in 16 points.
“This was a good win for us,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “ I thought we had great energy tonight, jumped on them quickly and took control of the game. We didn’t play great, but this is a good way to start conference play.”
For the game, ODU held Charlotte to 30.8% (16-52) shooting from the floor and 29.4% (5-17) shooting from three. The Monarchs held advantages for points in the paint (43-22), assists (18-6), rebounds (43-34) and fast-break points (19-10).
Ahmad Caver led the Monarchs with 22 points against Charlotte
Old Dominion shot 53.4% (31-58) from the floor, 46.7% (7-15) from deep and 76.9% (20-26) from the free-throw line.
With 11:32 remaining in regulation, the 49ers cut their deficit to 18, 54-36, but would get no closer as the Monarchs ran away with a 31-point victory on Saturday night in Norfolk.
The Monarchs claimed a 42-16 lead at halftime, led by Ahmad Caver’s 11 points, followed by Trey Porter’s 10. Old Dominion held Charlotte to 23.1% (6-26) shooting from the floor, 0.0% (0-7) shooting from deep and 44.4% (4-9) shooting from the charity stripe.
ODU connected on 50.0% (14-28) of its first half field goals. For the first half, Old Dominion held advantages for points in the paint (22-10), points off turnovers (9-1), assists (8-0) and fast-break points (8-2).
Old Dominion will be back in action in the year 2018 on Thursday, Jan. 4, when the Monarchs travel to Houston to take on Rice at 8:00 p.m. EST on C-USA TV.
