SPORTS

CHARLOTTE — Hyunjung Lee had a career night, and the Davidson Wildcats beat cross-county rival Charlotte 75-58 Tuesday night in the annual Battle for the Hornets’ Nest Trophy in Halton Arena.

It’s Davidson’s seventh win over the 49ers in the last nine meetings and the Wildcats’ fourth win in a row this season, as they improved to 5-2.

Lee scored a career-best 32 points and pulled down a career-high 14 boards with his third career double-double to set the tone, while Michael Jones added a career-best 18 points.

Lee finished 9-of-17 from the floor, 6-of-12 from 3-point range and 8-of-8 at the foul line, as the Wildcats won on their rival’s home floor for the first time since early in the 2017-18 season.

The Wildcats led by as many as 18 points five times, first at 46-28 after opening the second 20 minutes with nine straight points. After a Foster Loyer trey pushed the Davidson lead to 58-40 with 9:08 left, the 49ers posed their best challenge of the night with an 8-0 run to trim the deficit to 10. But the Wildcats answered, first with a drive and layup by Desmond Watson to make it 60-48 and moments later with a 9-0 run to extend it to 69-51 with 4:41 to play.

Late in the first half, Davidson used a 16-6 spurt, capped by three consecutive triples and a layup from Lee to push its advantage to 37-23. The Niners closed the period with five unanswered to cut the deficit to 37-28 at the break.

Lee and Jones combined for seven of the ‘Cats eight first-half 3-pointers.

The Wildcats finished 18-of-19 at the foul line (94.7 percent) and 11-of-21 from beyond the arc (52.4 percent).

Aly Khalifa led Charlotte with 18 points, while Jahmir Young finished with 10 after scoring at least 20 points in each of his last four outings.

Up Next
The Wildcats return home and will host William & Mary Saturday at 3 p.m. in Belk Arena.