Chuck Benson postgame interview

The loss is Carson-Newman's first at home since a senior day defeat to Wingate to close out the regular season in the 2012-13 season and ends a 12-game home winnings streak for the Eagles against conference competition.

The win is just the fifth loss by a two seed all-time in SAC tournament history.  The Eagles own another of those, falling in an upset to Wingate in 1991 81-74. 

"I so badly hate that this game went down like it did," C-N head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "Our guys are across the board right now.  Antoine Davis is literally inconsolable; he's blaming himself for this.  It's time to sit tight and see what happens. We'll hope and pray that we can get an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament."

Carson-Newman got 28 points from Ish Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) who moved past Presbyterian's Chuck Rayford and into fourth place on the South Atlantic Conference's all-time scoring list with 1,911 career points.

Antoine Davis had 10 for the Eagles to move past the 1,500-point barrier for his career.  Sawyer Williams (Owenton, Ky.) added 10 for the Eagles as well.

Julian Nelson – an honorable mention All-SAC performer - led the Cobras with 22.

"The credit goes to Coker," Benson said. "They came in on the road and won in a tough environment. They've got seven seniors, and even when their backs were against the wall, they responded in a big time way."   

Coker turned the Eagles' 21 turnovers into 25 points.  The loss is Carson-Newman's first this year when they led at the five minute mark in the second half (the Eagles were up 66-65). It also marks just the third time in the last two years that the Eagles have dropped a game when scoring more than 70 points. 

Coker advances to face Anderson in the South Atlantic Conference semifinals in Greenville, S.C. at 2:30 p.m.  Carson-Newman fill find out if it's fortunate enough to continue playing in the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday at 10:30 p.m. in a broadcast on ncaa.com. 

The Eagles were ranked sixth in the region rankings coming in to Wednesday's contest. 

-CN-