VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Tripp Davis Interview
VIDEO: Luke Brenegan Interview
Salisbury, N.C. – Catawba (4-9, 4-9 South Atlantic Conference) nearly erased an 18-point deficit, but Carson-Newman (10-5, 9-5 South Atlantic Conference) buried free throws and used a late run to sweep its first season series from the Indians since 2017-18.
The Eagles prevailed 87-74 Saturday afternoon at Goodman Gym.
"This is one of the places that is really challenging to win," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "Our guys showed a great deal of resiliency showing we can take a punch. I told them that we needed this. It was a standing eight count and we were looking a little dazed. They really responded to that, and I'm so thankful for that."
Carson-Newman went 27-of-29 at the charity stripe, including 21-of-22 after halftime to power its way to a fifth straight win by double digits. It marked the second game this season that Carson-Newman shot better than 90 percent at the line. It's also the first time since Jan. 2, 2019 that the Eagles canned 25 free throws.
The Eagles used a 10-0 run with under eight minutes to play in the second half to seal the deal. Eight of the points on that run came at the charity stripe.
C-N knocked down all 10 of its freebies in the game's final three minutes.
"The difference in this one was we made our free throws and made them pay," Benson said. "If there was just one internal thing that made the difference today it was our resiliency and confidence. On the floor, it was the free throws. When they fouled us, we made winning numbers, and those shots late were the difference."
The triumvirate of Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.), Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) and EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) paved the way for the Eagles by combing for 64 points.
Brenegan and Davis each had 24. The point total goes down as a season-best for Davis and was three off his career high. Davis was 6-of-8 from the field and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. He also had a career-best five steals.
"That's something we work on every day after practice," Davis said of the free throw effort. "We weren't a very good free throw shooting team last year. We've been working on it a lot. Today it helped us get the win."
Davis became the first Eagle to knock down at least 10 freebies without missing since Mason Bates went 10-for-10 against Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 30, 2019.
Meanwhile, Brenegan did reset his career high with 24.
"I was playing with confidence and trusting our scheme," Brenegan said. "We go inside out and play though our bigs, I trust that scheme. I had good opportunities to take shots."
The reigning SAC Player of the Week knocked down 4-of-7 threes and all eight of his free throws.
Bush rounded out the trio with 16 points and 10 boards, his eighth career double-double.
Carson-Newman shot better than 50 percent from the field for a fifth straight game.
However, Catawba became the first team this season to shoot better than 50 percent on Carson-Newman.
The Indians nailed 52.7 percent of their shots and 46.2 percent of their threes (12-of-26). It was Catawba's best three-point shooting night of the season.
Catawba used the long ball to erase a big C-N lead. The Eagles used a 13-0 run to bound out to an 18-point lead in the game's first 18 minutes. But the Indians went 7-for-12 from long range in the opening stanza to cut the deficit down to six by the halftime break.
"We got a little bit comfortable," Davis said. "You have to credit Catawba. They made some tough shots. It felt like we just kept playing hard even though we were taking their punches. When the adversity came, we were able to overcome it today."
Terrence Whitfield and Bernard Pelote each had 19 for Catawba. Larry McLeod added 14 with six assists.
Carson-Newman steps out of conference play to take on Benedict Monday at 6:30 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live starting with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff 15 minutes prior to game time.
