JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Lenoir-Rhyne's Kevin Davis' off-balance jumper with 1:11 remaining to give the Bears the game's only two possession lead in the final 6:50 as visiting L-R won a back-and-fourth battle with Carson-Newman on Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse.
Davis' jumper gave L-R a 64-60 lead and the Bears held the Eagles scoreless for the final 3:38 as L-R won its first South Atlantic Conference game.
With the win, L-R moves to 5-8 and 1-3 in SAC play, while C-N falls to 9-5 and 2-2.
Carson-Newman was not without opportunities down the stretch.
Tied at 60-60 with 3:02 to play, Carson-Newman rebounded a Denzel Dillingham miss and pushed the ball up the floor to an open Antoine Davis, whose open three-pointer bounced off the front of the rim. The Bears' D.J. Blackmon hit a floater in traffic 20 seconds later to give the Bears a 62-60 lead.
The Eagles followed with consecutive turnovers as L-R held on for the win.
Carson-Newman raced to a 14-4 lead behind early threes from Davis and Marcellous Perez. The Eagles would hold the lead until the midway point of the first half, moving ahead 24-16 on a put back by Collin Crane.
L-R closed the first half on a 19-6 run over the final 8:38 to take a 35-30 halftime lead as Hunter McClintock got rolling. McClintock made 5-of-9 three-point field goals, including 3-of-6 during the spurt. He finished with 17 points.
The Eagles opened the half on a 9-2 run as Perez and Davis combined to make their first three triples of the half, moving C-N out to a 39-37 lead.
Blackmon added 15 for L-R and Allan Jones had 14 points the Bears.
Davis had 16 points to lead the Eagles, while Perez added 14.
Leading scorer Ishmael Sanders was frustrated into a two-point performance and was 1-of-7 from the floor.
Carson-Newman struggled from beyond the arc, connecting on just 8-of-26 three point attempts. L-R shot 43 percent from three-point range, making 6-of-14.
Carson-Newman returns to action on Wednesday evening at Tusculum College. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. in Pioneer Arena.
-C-N-
