JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – All it takes is one basket.
One basket and Charles Clark (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) will become Carson-Newman's (9-2, 3-2 SAC) all-time leading scorer for the Division II-era (1992-present).
Clark enters Saturday's 4 p.m. tip inside Holt Fieldhouse with Lenoir-Rhyne (3-4, 2-2 South Atlantic Conference) with 1,921 career points. Ish Sanders had 1,922 in his career from 2010-2013.
Clark has scored in double figures in 72 of the last 73 games he's played for the Eagles. Clark has only been held scoreless once in his career. That happened in his fourth career game when the Eagles lost 69-60 at home on Nov. 22 to Coker. That day, Clark started, played 14 foul-plagued minutes and went 0-3 from the field.
Once he passes Sanders, he'll have fifth place to himself on both the SAC's and Carson-Newman's all-time scoring lists. He can then take aim at Lenoir-Rhyne's Daniel Willis for fourth place and 1,980 career points on the SAC's list.
Former C-N coach Chris Jones is up next on the C-N list. He has 2,007 career points.
Elsewhere in the record books, Clark's next made bucket will also be his 600th career made field goal. He is looking to become the eighth guy in league history and the third in C-N's modern era with 600 made buckets (Ray Evans and Ish Sanders are the others). Clark needs 12 steals to take over the all-time mark from Kyle Gribble (188) in CarsonNewman history. He has made 511 career free throws, good for third all-time in South Atlantic Conference history already
Carson-Newman is looking to get back on the winning track after falling by 11 at No. 2 Queens on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Lenoir-Rhyne has won three straight games, but is 1-4 away from Hickory this season.
"The good thing is that finals are over," head coach Chuck Benson said. "I know our guys have a lot of pressure off of them because those are finished. L-R's improved from last year. They have a unique style on both sides of the ball with a really good post presence in Bertrand Awana."
Lenoir-Rhyne hasn't won inside of Holt Fieldhouse since Jan. 7, 2012, a 66-60 decision. Since then, the Eagles have taken six consecutive home wins over the Bears.
Carson-Newman has won 12 consecutive games inside the friendly confines of Holt Fieldhouse. Aside from the Eagles' 92-91 win over King this year, all of those games have been decided by at least 13 points. Mars Hill has the closest margin of defeat on the Eagles' current home winning streak, falling to C-N 91-78 last year.
Carson-Newman has beaten the last 12 teams its faced at home by an average of 23.0 points. Carson-Newman hasn't lost in Holt since Jan. 7, 2017, 79-77 to Wingate. The Eagles are averaging 57 percent shooting from the field on the streak, including a 44 percent effort from behind the arc. Carson-Newman is averaging a shade over 10 threes a game at home in the 2017 calendar year.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Bears is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. Pregame coverage starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
