Blazers, 49ers Set for Quick Rematch in American Quarterfinals

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 12, 2026

UAB finally knows its opening assignment in the American Conference Tournament. The Blazers will play Charlotte in a quarterfinal game on Friday at noon at Legacy Arena.

The Blazers got the first two days off as the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Charlotte, the No. 4 seed, got to work on Thursday and advanced with a 74-60 win over No. 9 seed Tulane.

Putting together a scouting report won’t be difficult for either team. They will break out the scouting report from just over a week ago when UAB went to Charlotte and came away with an 80-74 victory to cap off a 9-0 road record in conference games.

It took some time for Charlotte to get going in the first half against Tulane. The 49ers shot just 14.7 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. Fortunately, for the 49ers, Tulane’s struggles were similar so the Green Wave’s lead was just 20-18 at halftime. It was the lowest number of total points scored in a half in tournament history and the teams also set a record of fewest combined field goals made with 11.

Things were decidedly different in the second half, at least for Aaron Fearne’s Charlotte team.

“Coach Fearne came into the locker room and said that he didn't see a single shot that we took in the first half that he didn't like,” said Charlotte point guard Dezayne Mingo. “That's crazy to hear from him. He's a critic. That fueled me. That gave me a lot of confidence going into the second half to shoot whenever I was open.”

Charlotte shot a tournament record 77.3 percent from the field in the second half. The hot streak helped the 49ers string together an 18-0 run to start the second half and Tulane never recovered.

At the forefront of Charlotte’s offensive burst was Mingo, who missed all eight of his shots from the field in the first half. His second half performance fueled him to a night where he nearly finished with a triple-double – 19 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists. Ben Bradford also shined after halftime, scoring 20 of his game-high 29 points.

Now, the 49ers turn their attention to turning the outcome around against UAB. Fearne and his players were asked in the postgame about UAB point guard Chance Westry, who flirted with a triple-double against the 49ers with 20 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

“I'm not sure what makes him such a good player, but we're going to watch a lot of film and go back to the drawing board and change the things that we did wrong in that game to be able to come out with the win,” Mingo said.

Fearne was more specific about what makes Westry successful.

“I think he does an excellent job of getting downhill,” Fearne said. “He's very good off the ball screen. He has fantastic feel off the ball screen. He's good at just hesitating in the pocket, seeing what the big will do. He's very good at keeping his eyes up, seeing behind that initial line of defense. He does an excellent job with that. So, yeah, we're going to have to do a good job on him, but they've got a good team.”

Evan Chatman had 19 points and nine rebounds in the first meeting between the teams and KyeRon Martin-Lindsay 12 points and five rebounds in just 19 minutes. Chatman, Martin-Lindsay Martin and Daniel Rivera played a big role in the Blazers outrebounding Charlotte, 39-27, and outscoring the 49ers, 20-2, on second chance points.

“You know, they've slowly got better as the year has gone on,” said Fearne. “We're going to have to guard them. It was a really good game at our place. It was really competitive. So, yeah, we'll see if we can make some adjustments and get across the line this time.”

The winner will meet No. 1 seed South Florida in the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m.