Chuck Benson By the Slice – Catawba preview

Carson-Newman Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-1, 2-1 South Atlantic Conference) was humming along at the tail end of the 2012-13 in the hunt for a conference championship.  That is until the Eagles ran into Catawba (1-5, 1-2 SAC).  The Indians upset the Eagles at Goodman Gym 60-58 to knock C-N out of contention for a conference title last year. 

In that contest Catawba jumped out to a 19-point lead in the  game's first 10 minutes, then held off a late C-N rally.

This year, the Eagles get an early whack at a Catawba club that is very much the same from a year ago. 

"They have two of the better players in our conference in Tyrece Little and Elon Edwards," C-N head coach Chuck Benson said. "Throw their record out, because it'll take our best effort to claw out a win against them."

This year's version of  the Indians is one of the more            prolific shot blocking teams in the nation.

Catawba ranks fourth nationally in blocked shots and has four players who individually rank in the top 175, led by Troy Warren, who's 27th in the nation for the stat category.

For Benson, Little, who averages near a double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds, takes the cake.

"Little's a bouncy guy," Benson said. "He can run and attack the game on both ends. He's arguably the best shot blocker in this conference.  It's so difficult to get a true contest on his shot because you have to be on a step ladder to make an impact."

Kijaun Arrington leads the Indians with 17.4 points per game after  missing the first three games of the year.  All-conference guard Edwards is the fourth Indian who averages double figures.  He also leads the club in assists with 23 for the year.

"You look at him and you're almost tempted to take him for granted because he's very small," Benson said. "But the reality is that he's very fast and has exceptional handles.  He's got a long three ball and he can get in the pain and score. He's very versatile."

The Eagles are unbeaten at home in December the last two years. Ish Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) is the NCAA's active leader in made three pointers with 275 for his career. With his 23-point effort versus Lees-McRae, Sanders became the program's all-time leading scorer for the Division II era. He already has the school record for made threes in both a season and career.

The Eagles and Indians tip at 4 p.m. Saturday. Coverage is available on the Eagle Sports Network beginning with the Countdown to Tipoff at 3:45 p.m. on 106.3 ESPN Radio the Zone (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.