Charlotte 75, Rhode Island 73

3/12/2008 10:07 PM

By TOM CANAVAN
AP Sports Writer

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -Michael Gerrity hit two free throws after a questionable foul call with less than a second to play and Charlotte rallied from a late five-point deficit to beat Rhode Island 75-73 in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament Wednesday night.

Leemire Goldwire hit three clutch late 3-pointers and scored 23 points as the sixth-seeded 49ers advanced to a quarterfinal against third-seeded Massachusetts (21-9) on Thursday night.

An'Juan Wilderness added 14 points, Charlie Coley had 11, including two big free throws to tie the game, and Gerrity finished with 10 in the game the officials made two big calls against Rhode Island in the final minute.

Jimmy Baron had 25 points to lead the Rams, who fell to 21-11 after losing for the eighth time in the last 10 games. Will Daniels had 15 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 37.7 seconds to play.

Charlotte (19-12) trailed by five entering the second half and did not tie the game until Charlie Coley, a 53 percent free throw shooter, made two attempts from the line with 37.7 seconds to play.

Rhode Island called two time outs over the next 22 seconds. After the second time out, the Rams were working the ball up high when Kahiem Seawright was called for an offensive foul on a screen with 8.2 seconds to go.

After a time out, Gerrity took the inbounds pass in the backcourt, dribbled to the front court and made a move to the basket, where he was fouled by Keith Cothran with .3 seconds on the clock.

Rhode Island coach Jim Baron held his head in disbelief after the call by Will Bush.

Gerrity made both free throws to give Charlotte its only lead in the half.

The 49ers had pulled to within a point on five different occasions, twice failing to tie the game when Ian Anderson and Lamont Mack missed the front ends of 1-and-1 opportunities.