GAME NOTES: The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders try to make it two straight Conference USA wins on Saturday when they welcome the Charlotte 49ers to the Murphy Center.

Middle Tennessee bounced back from a loss to Louisiana Tech on Thursday, as it was able to outlast Old Dominion, 68-58 in overtime. The Blue Raiders won for the fourth time in five tries and improved to 4-2 in C-USA play.

The Blue Raiders, who are 11-8 overall on the year, are also an impressive 53-6 over the past four seasons at home, including an 8-2 mark inside the Murphy Center this season.

Charlotte, meanwhile, also went to overtime on Thursday, but wasn't as fortunate, as it fell to UAB, 81-76. It was the 49ers' second straight loss and dropped them to 2-4 in league play and 8-10 overall.

This will be just the third meeting in history between these schools on the hardwood. Charlotte downed the Blue Raiders by 15 points back in 1987, but Middle Tennessee returned the favor last season, blowing out Charlotte by 22.

Jacob Ivory scored a team-high 12 points and Middle Tennessee used an 11-0 spurt in overtime to fuel Thursday's victory over Old Dominion. Darnell Harris and Giddy Potts both chipped in with 11 points, while Jaqawn Raymond scored a huge basket near the end of OT to reach 10 points on the night.

The Blue Raiders, who are 11-1 when scoring at least 60 points this season, finished shooting at a 46-percent clip from the field, while going 9-of-19 (47 percent) from 3-point range.

Middle Tennessee is one of only two teams in the country to have a winning record, despite not having its leading scorer averaging double figures, as sophomore forward Reggie Upshaw leads the team with 9.6 ppg. As a whole the team is scoring 61.2 ppg on 40.4 percent shooting, including a .354 mark from beyond the arc.

Keyshawn Woods led Charlotte with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor in Thursday's loss. Terrence Williams supplied 17 points, while Torin Dorn contributed 16 points and five rebounds. Willie Clayton also scored 10 points despite missing all five of his free-throw attempts.

That has been a common theme this season for the 49ers, who were outscored 20-8 at the charity stripe and rank last in the conference in free-throw percentage.

Despite its awful showing from the line, Charlotte is still ranked third in the C-USA in scoring with 69.0 ppg. A balanced attack is the key to the 49ers' success, with seven players averaging at least 7.6 ppg. Dorn leads the way with 12.6 ppg, while Pierria Henry is chipping in 11.3 ppg and ranking among the C-USA leaders in steals (2.6 spg) and assists (5.6 apg).

Charlotte could have a hard time on Saturday. Its inability to score from the free-throw line coupled with the fact that Middle Tennessee is nearly unbeatable at home could make for a long night for the 49ers.