Box Score CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Appalachian State University men's basketball raced out to an early 10-0 lead, but was unable to hold on in a 75-65 loss to Charlotte on Thursday night at Halton Arena.

The Mountaineers (3-5) dropped their third-straight game despite a game-high 20 points from Frank Eaves and a double-double from Tommy Spagnolo. The 49ers (6-4) picked up their second-straight win and downed the Apps for the second time in as many years.

Eaves opened the contest by sinking a shot from long range on the team's opening possession before Spagnolo hit a layup one minute later. After Eaves scored again, Dustin Clarke capped off the game-opening 10-0 run with a three-point shot of his own with 17:54 left in the first half.

Appalachian would remain in control until the 49ers made a 15-6 run midway through the opening period to grab their first lead of the contest, 27-26, with 2:31 to play. The Mountaineers responded with a 6-0 run to close the half and took a 32-27 lead into the locker room.

Despite a poor shooting performance in the first half (37.0 percent), App State connected on 9-of-13 free throws in the opening stanza to help stake it to the halftime lead.

After stretching the lead to six points (37-31) in the first three minutes of the second half, Appalachian went cold over the next four minutes as Charlotte regained the lead with a 12-4 run to go up, 43-41, with 14:37 remaining and never trailed the rest of the way.

The Mountaineers were able to cut the deficit to just one point (52-51) when Griffin Kinney hit a layup with 10:32 left to play, but Charlotte reeled off an 11-4 run over the next four minutes to stretch the lead to 63-55 and never led by less than four the rest of the way.

Eaves logged his third 20-point performance of the season, thanks in part to an 11-of-13 performance at the charity stripe, and tied a career-high with seven rebounds. Spagnolo scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and ripped down 11 rebounds while Chris Burgess added 11 points.

Charlotte finished with four double-digit scorers. Torin Dorn came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points while Braxton Ogbueze (13), Willie Clayton (12) and Keyshawn Woods (12) each scored in double figures. Clayton also pulled down a team-best eight rebounds and added two assists.

Appalachian finished 21-of-52 (40.4 percent) from the floor and 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) from the free-throw line, but finished just 4-of-20 from beyond the arc. The 49ers connected on 30-of-65 shots (46.2 percent), including 9-of-22 from long range, but were just 6-of-12 at the line.

While App State grabbed more rebounds (38-35) than Charlotte, the Mountaineers committed 16 turnovers which led directly to 20 points for the 49ers. Charlotte also dominated on second-chance buckets, outscoring the Apps 21-9 in that category.

Appalachian State closes out its non-conference slate when it heads to Alabama on Sunday for a 6:30 p.m. matchup with the Crimson Tide. The Mountaineers will have a 12-day break before opening conference play at Arkansas State on Jan. 3.

NOTES: Appalachian State fell to 13-21 all-time against Charlotte ... the 49ers have now defeated the Mountaineers in back-to-back contests for the first time since winning six in a row between 1991-97 ... the teams had traded wins in each of the previous six meetings ... the Apps dropped to 40-51 all-time against current members of Conference USA ... Spagnolo's double-double was his third this season and the 11th of his career ... all of his double-doubles have come in the Mountaineers' last 21 games dating back to last year ... Eaves has now scored 60 of his team-best 131 points at the free-throw line (45.8 percent) ... he has made at least seven free throws in six of the last seven games ... the Mountaineers are shooting 81.3 percent (39-of-48) from the charity stripe over the past three games ... Charlotte's bench outscored Appalachian's by a margin of 34-8.