VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Josh Rogers Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Johnson C. Smith (2-1) connected on 14-of-27 three-pointers and held off a late Carson-Newman rally (1-2) to collect a 95-92 win at Holt Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
The 14 made threes are the most by an Eagle opponent since Mars Hill connected on 16-of-32 in an 84-73 loss to the Lions on Nov. 25 last season. That also marks the last time Carson-Newman dropped back-to-back contests at home.
"You've got to give a lot of credit to Johnson C. Smith; they had an unbelievable shooting percentage tonight and shot the ball with great confidence," head coach Chuck Benson said. "Tonight was more about them being absolutely incredible than it was about us."
Carson-Newman started slow, falling behind by 12 midway through the first half after connecting on just three of its first 14 shots. However, the Eagles would whittle away at that lead thanks to prodigious free-throw shooting and get it down to a 40-37 deficit by the halftime break.
The Golden Bulls shot 51.5 percent for the game (34-66) compared to 46.6 percent (27-58) shooting for Carson-Newman. JCSU entered the game shooting 24 percent from three.
"I liked the fact that our guys showed some poise in spite of their shot making ability," Benson said. "Teams typically don't consistently make shots like that for 40 minutes. They did it for 40 minutes. They shot the ball incredibly effectively today."
The Eagles burst forth from the gates to start the second half. An 11-0 run put C-N up five four minutes in following back-to-back treys from Andy Barnett (Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) and another from freshman guard Zack Pangallo (Newport, Ky.).
However, much like their performance all night long, the Golden Bulls would respond. Stedmond Lemon and Diondre Pratt each nailed threes to get the game back even.
The game's teeter-totter nature continued for much of the second half. The teams swapped leads 13 times and were tied on 12 occasions down the stretch until 81 seconds left when a Robert Davis steal and score off the left block rounded out an 11-0 Golden Bull run that put JCSU up 91-82.
Fortunately for the Eagles, a bit of happenstance went C-N's way. After a Charles Clark (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) corner three and Josh Rogers (Bristol, United Kingdom) defensive rebound brought the deficit down to six and gave the Eagles the ball, Lemon was called for a fifth foul on another Clark three-point attempt.
Golden Bull head coach Stephen Joyner took too long to replace Lemon and was called for a technical. Clark made four of his five free throw attempts to make it a 91-89 game.
After Alandre Davis converted on two free throws, Barnett nailed his fifth three of the night to bring the Eagles back within one. With 10 seconds left, the Eagles' still had yet to put the Golden Bulls into the bonus. The Golden Bulls were able to work eight seconds off the clock as the Eagles had to commit four fouls to finally send Robert Davis to the line, where the senior calmly connected on both ends of a one-and-one.
With 1.8 seconds left and the full court to go, Carson Brooks (Knoxville, Tenn.) put the in-bounds pass on the money to Barnett at the top of the key. However, Barnett was double-teamed and had to rush a forced leaner that missed.
The loss is a second straight for Carson-Newman when it has scored 90 points. The last time the Eagles scored 90, they dropped a 91-90 decision to Tusculum. This is just Carson-Newman's ninth loss in 55 games since 2012 when it has scored more than 70 points.
Clark led Carson-Newman with 26 points, his sixth consecutive game cresting the 20-point threshold.
The Eagles had five players in double figures for the first time since beating USC Aiken by 22 on Nov. 29, 2014.
Rogers was a point away from matching his career high and collected his sixth career double-double with 18 points and 11 boards. Barnett did reset his career high with 16. Brooks had 15 and Pangallo crested 10 for the first time in a Carson-Newman jersey with a 12 point effort.
Lemon was other-worldly with 29 points. Pratt added 29. Alandre Davis and Robert Davis each had 11 and five assists.
"They took tough contested shots and made them," Benson said. "They took long twos and made those. They took NBA-range threes and made those."
The Eagles turned it over 19 times leading to 23 Golden Bull points.
Carson-Newman hits the road for the first time this season when it travels to the Convocation Center for an 11 a.m. tip with USC Aiken Saturday. The game will be a web-only broadcast on the ESN with a 10:45 pregame show on cneagles.com/live.
