Chuck Benson postgame interview

Antoine Davis and Ish Sanders postgame interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (14-6, 11-5 South Atlantic Conference) leapt out to a 23-point lead in the second half and had to withstand a late Lenoir-Rhyne (11-9, 10-6 SAC) rally to take home an 81-76 victory over the Bears Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.

Carson-Newman has now won three straight games. 

The 81 points are the most for a Chuck Benson-coached Eagle club against the Bears.  C-N hadn't scored more than 70 against L-R under Benson's tenure prior to Saturday's contest. 

The win, coupled with a Wingate win over Anderson, moves the Eagles into a tie for second place in the South Atlantic Conference standings. 

"L-R is a team that historically we have struggled to score against," Benson said. "But we were so efficient and shot the ball at such a high percentage in the first half; that can demoralize an opponent. However, I wasn't one bit surprised that they were able to comeback because of how talented they are."

The Eagles raced out to a 19-point halftime lead thanks to a 24-4 first half run that took advantage of a seven-minute field goal drought for the Bears.  Ish Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Antoine Davis (Rustburg, Va.) combined for 50 points. 

Sanders supplied his second 30-point game of the season and his eighth with more than 25 points.  Meanwhile Davis scored 20 for the 12^th time this year.  The Eagles are 8-0 when Sanders crests 25.

"They were both just so aggressive and so purposive," Benson said. "There was no doubt that they wanted the ball and were going to do good things with it."

Lenoir-Rhyne started to make its push with around 11 minutes left in the game.  Jarvis Perry, RJ McClure and Alex Watkins connected on three straight threes as a part of an 11-2 run that trimmed the Eagles lead to seven, 67-60 with 7:59 left in the second half.

McClure would drain three more threes in the final two minutes to bring the Bars as closes as four; however, the Eagles would drain five of six free throws in the final two minutes to keep the Bears at bay.

Carson-Newman was 26-for-30 at the stripe.  Davis and Sanders combined to go 19-of-19 with Sanders matching a career high with 13 freebees. 

McClure finished with 18, but was inefficient going five-of-19 from the field and five-of-17 from beyond the arc.  Alex Watkins, who had played in just eight games and taken two three pointers entering the contest, popped the Eagles for 18 as well.  He was seven-of-10 from the field and four-for-six from beyond the arc.

"He (Watkins) wasn't even on our scouting report," Benson said. "Typically when we've played, there's some unsung hero that comes in and plays well; however, that does take shots away from the primary guy.  That wound up for an inefficient night for McClure."

The Eagles take to the road Wednesday for a contest at Brevard.  Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m.  Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network gets underway at 7:45 on 106.3 ESPN Radio The Zone (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.

-CN-