VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-5, 4-5 South Atlantic Conference) held No. 4/2 Lincoln Memorial (13-1, 11-1 SAC) to season lows for points, field goal percentage and three-point percentage, but the Railsplitters staved off a second-half Carson-Newman rally for a 70-59 decision Wednesday night at Tex Turner Arena.
Lincoln Memorial entered the contest top five in the country in scoring, field goal percentage and threes made per game.
Carson-Newman held the Railsplitters 27 points below their scoring average. The Railsplitters also suffered through their second worst three-point shooting night of the year (7-for-26, 26.9 percent). Furthermore, Carson-Newman became the first team to hold LMU below 40 percent shooting (23-of-62, 37.1 percent) this season and the first since Feb. 23, 2019 when Catawba limited the 'Splitters to 39.7 percent shooting in an 81-74 LMU win. The Railsplitters entered the contest shooting 55 percent from the field.
"In terms of a scoreboard in or loss, this was a loss, and we credit LMU for the win," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "There are some questions that were answered today for our staff and for our team. We knew this would be a battle of offense versus defense. I'm going to go so far to say that the defense outperformed the offense.
"To hold that team 27 points below their average, we do that and still had an abundance of mistakes that allowed them to get points. I told our guys, 'we all want to win the game, but our primary focus is to continue to try to learn, grow and perform at a level that is worthy of winning.' I have a lot of pride in what I saw in our guys tonight."
Lincoln Memorial closed the first half on a 12-2 spurt as C-N went the final 4:41 of the frame The Railsplitters headed into the halftime locker room with a 37-21 lead. Even down by 16, the 37 points were the second fewest LMU had scored in a first half all year.
Carson-Newman responded near instantaneously out of the gates to start the second half. The Eagles rattled off a 14-3 run to cut the deficit to five, 40-35 by the under 16 media timeout.
EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) and Tyler Bowens (Greenville, S.C.) finished the burst with a fast break layup and a twisting lay-in, respectively.
The Eagles and Railsplitters would surge back-and-forth for the next 12 minutes. LMU seemingly seized control with 5:19 to play after a Devin Whitfield three pushed the 'Splitters' edge back to 10, 60-50.
However, Bowens scored the next four and Bush hitting a leaner from the middle of the lane to get C-N within four after a 6-0 burst with 2:49 to play. Unfortunately the Eagles would make just one of their final six shots, while LMU canned a quartet of free throws to seal the 70-59 win.
Carson-Newman impacted LMU's stars. C-N held the league's leading scorer Devin Whitfield to 15 points, his third lowest game of the season. The Eagles' held the Railsplitters' second-leading scorer Cameron Henry to four points on 1-of-10 shooting. He did have 13 rebound.
In their stead, Xavier Bledson stepped up with a season-high 27 points.
"It's akin to what happened in our last game with Wingate," Benson said. "Someone has to score points. You want to try to impact who they would prefer to score points. They have such an incredible amount of talent. Bledson is a starter at any school in this conference. He steps up and does his thing. The good thing for us is we made someone else step up and forced our opponent to use someone else. I'm very proud of that."
Bush led Carson-Newman with 16 points, albeit on 7-of-17 shooting. He added in six boards.
Bowens and Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) had 10 and 11, respectively. Bowens netted double-digits for a third game and finished with a team-high six boards.
He and Joshuwa Butts (Fairburn, Ga.) were both +6 when they were on the floor.
"I'm going to use the words of Josh Schertz, a guy I respect a ton," Benson said. "He said to me before the game, 'You've got some freshmen that are in the mix that are impressive.' It makes the future seem bright. Josh, Tyler, Ren, Nick and Mac, they are getting an experience that will only help them and us."
Carson-Newman shot 54.8 percent from the field after halftime to finish at 39.3 percent for the game.
The Eagles return to the floor Monday against Limestone. Tipoff from Holt Fieldhouse is set for 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast online, if not also over the air, at cneagles.com/live starting with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff 15 minutes prior to game time.
