BRISTOL, Tenn. – Despite being whistled for a season-high 21 fouls, Carson-Newman used a second half resurgence to overcome late trips to the line by King and take an 87-86 triumph on Saturday evening at the Student Center Complex.
The win marks the first for Carson-Newman (4-0) in Bristol since the 1999-00 season.
Career days from Grant Teichmann (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Chris Clayton (Marion, N.C.) helped the Eagles in the win. Teichmann netted a career-high 26 points and was two rebounds away from double-double land with eight rebounds, all on the defensive side of the ball. Clayton brought in a career-high 13 points off the bench with five board and an assist.
C-N opened the game with a layup from Mason Bates (Cookeville, Tenn.) but King (2-1) took control, leading for most of the contest. Its largest lead came early in the opening half of play as a missed three-point attempt by Teichmann was rebounded by Timothy Taylor. He converted with a three-pointer of his own to put the Tornado on a 10-2 run to put it up by eight at 19-11.
The Eagles battled back to tie the game six times through the opening half but could not find a lead in that time, facing a 46-44 deficit heading into the break.
Carson-Newman shot 54-percent in the opening half with Teichmann being the only Eagle to see double-figures for scoring in the period with 10 points. King only made 43-percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes but made up for that at the charity stripe where it went 12-of-13.
King made its mark in the first frame with a 92-percent showing from the line, making 12-of-13 free throws. C-N, on the other hand, made just 9-of-14.
The Eagles did not see a substantial lead until the 13:19 mark of the second half after a Clayton layup spurred a 6-0 scoring run for C-N that was capped by a Teichmann layup to put his team up 59-53.
For the first time in his career, @chrisclayton973 is in double-figures with 13 points off the bench!
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) November 17, 2018
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From that point, Carson-Newman did all it could to keep momentum in its possession, but King grabbed a 5-2 run with under five minutes to play for a 79-77 lead at the 3:51 mark with a layup from Antonio Freeman.
The late moments of the game turned into a back and forth free-throw affair late with neither team able to build strong scoring runs.
Teichmann drove in for a score off the glass to put C-N up 83-81 with 1:54 left to play but King cut the Eagles lead to one with a free throw from Freeman just seconds later.
Go ahead, Grant!
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) November 17, 2018
@granteichmann drives in to score off the glass! He holds 22 points.
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Bates pushed the Orange and Blue lead back out to three with a jumper with under a minute to play at 85-82.
A foul was whistled on Timothy Taylor with five seconds left, sending Teichmann to the line where he drained both of his attempts, extending the lead 87-84.
After the inbound, Cameron Holmes (Fort Milll, S.C.) was called for a foul on Taylor, giving him a chance to tie the game with a trio of shots from the line. He could only drain the first two, cementing the win for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman shot 31-of-55 from the field for a 56-percent clip. It only made 8-of-19 beyond the arc but was 17-for-22 from the line.
Two other Eagles landed in double-digit scoring with Teichmann and Clayton as Bates scored 12 and Malik Abraham (Snellville, Ga.) had 11.
Holmes was the leading rebounder for C-N with 10.
C-N turned the ball over 17 times with the Tornado scoring 17 points off of those miscues.
Kalen Clifton led the way for King with 28 points off the bench, shooting 11-of-17 from the field. Following him in double-figured was Freeman with 20 and Taylor at 16.
Carson-Newman heads back home on Wednesday for its fifth-straight non-conference contest as Tennessee Wesleyan comes to town. Tipoff against the Bulldogs is set for 6 p.m. Coverage for the game begins at 5:45 on the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.