Thomas scores 21 as Charlotte defeats Rice 78-75

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Jaehshon Thomas helped lead Charlotte past Rice on Saturday night with 21 points off of the bench in a 78-75 win.

Thomas shot 6 for 10 (4 for 6 from 3-point range) and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for the 49ers (9-15, 2-9 American Athletic Conference). Nik Graves scored 19 points and added seven rebounds. Nika Metskhvarishvili went 4 of 9 from the field (1 for 6 from 3-point range) to finish with 11 points.

Trae Broadnax led the Owls (12-12, 3-8) in scoring, finishing with 21 points and four assists. Denver Anglin added 10 points for Rice. Jacob Dar also had 10 points.

Metskhvarishvili scored nine points in the first half and Charlotte went into halftime trailing 41-35. Charlotte pulled off the victory after a 10-0 second-half run erased a four-point deficit and gave them the lead at 65-59 with 7:14 left in the half. Thomas scored 13 second-half points.

NEXT UP

Charlotte plays Florida Atlantic on the road on Monday, and Rice hosts North Texas on Tuesday.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.