JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The Carson-Newman men’s basketball team jumps back into South Atlantic Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Mars Hill.

Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Stanford Arena in Mars Hill, N.C. The game will be broadcast on WMTN-AM 1300.

The Eagles (6-6, 1-1 SAC) have played some of their best basketball of the season during the last two weeks and have won two out of their last three contests, including an 85-54 victory over Newberry in their SAC home opener last Saturday.

C-N is coming off an 81-74 loss at Division I North Carolina A&T on Tuesday. The Eagles led for a majority of the second half before the Aggies battled back with a 19-4 run to take the lead for good.

Mars Hill (5-6, 1-1) enters the contest with its first conference win under its belt after defeating Newberry 73-71 on the road on Wednesday.

The Lions are led by the senior guard combination of Danny Sanders and Stoney Polite. Sanders leads the SAC in scoring with an average of 22.4 points per game, while Polite is fifth in the league in scoring with an average of 16.8 points per contest.

Saturday’s matchup pits one of the top scoring offenses in the conference against one of the SAC’s most improved defensive units.

The Lions are second in the SAC in scoring offense this season, averaging 87.3 points per game.

The Eagles, who led the conference in scoring the last two seasons, have struggled at times offensively and are averaging 73.7 points per game, but defense has been the difference for C-N so far this season. The Eagles are third in the SAC in scoring defense (70.7) and second in field goal percentage defense (39.6 percent).

C-N leads the all-time series 42-14. Mars Hill and the Eagles split their season series in 2008-09.