VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Tripp Davis Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Jamari Smith nailed a kick-out three off an offensive rebound to beat the buzzer and give No. 16/7 Queens (4-0, 2-0 SAC) an 83-81 win over Carson-Newman (1-3, 0-2 South Atlantic Conference) Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse.
Nine ties and 15 lead changes highlighted a see-saw battle and early heavy-weight prize fight between the teams picked one and two in the preseason SAC poll in a rematch of last year's SAC title game that C-N won in Charlotte.
The three by Smith was just the third make from long-distance for the All-SAC selection on the year. The buzzer-beater three is the fourth Carson-Newman has suffered in the last 10 years. Quin Nottingham drilled a 75-footer to power Anderson past the Eagles in 2020, Emarius Logan hit a three from the head of the key for Wingate in 2019 and Denzail Jones sniped on from long range in 2013 at Anderson.
"If you're sitting here tonight watching this one, you were no doubt entertained," head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "Let me say congrats to Coach Lundy and his team. They got the win, I just hate it for our guys. I thought we really played well enough to win and showed enough resiliency, determination and commitment to get the win. It just didn't happen."
The loss obfuscates a comeback for the Eagles. Queens used a 13-2 run to build a nine-point lead with 13:12 to play in the second half. The Royals led by seven, 68-61 with 8:46 to play when Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C) and John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) canned back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to one.
The Royals would stretch it back to five, 80-75 with 3:11 to play on a pair of Smith free throws. However, Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) floated home a lay up and EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) drilled four straight free throws to give C-N an 81-80 lead with 71 seconds left.
Carson-Newman got a stop on the possession following Bush's free throws, but Bush couldn't connect on a free-throw line jumper to set up Queens' game-winning possession.
As much as Smith delivered the winning blow for the Royals, Carson-Newman nearly was able to overcome major ball-security issues. The Eagles turned it over 16 times leading to a 23-5 edge in points off turnovers for the Royals.
"They are an elite defensive team that applies a great deal of pressure on the ball," Benson said. "We had some issues with that and we had some turnovers that were execution based. Our turnovers led to 23 points for them. Through all that, they still needed a shot at the buzzer to win. We also continued to struggle with our defensive rebounding. Hopefully our guys will find a way to secure those balls too."
Queens and Carson-Newman were even, 37-37 on the glass, but the Royals snatched up 22 offensive rebounds to make up for some deficiency in shooting 44 percent from the field. The Royals had a 21-14 advantage in second chance points.
Carson-Newman was without Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) for the second half after aggravating a knee injury he suffered at Tusculum. Davis was 5-for-7 and had 10 points at the break.
"We did all this in the midst of losing Tripp after halftime," Benson said. "There's a lot more positives than negatives despite the outcome. I'm not deflated, we need to bounce back with an out-of-conference game Tuesday. We are learning and evolving in a positive way and I'm interested to see where we go."
In Davis' absence, the Eagles turned to freshman John Zhao. The Sevier County-product delivered with a career-high 18 points of the bench. He canned 6-of-8 threes to lead all scorers with 18 points.
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"There's a reason he's here and playing," Benson said. "He has proven he is an efficient shot-maker and he's a team above all else guy. He's come in and tried to play catch up on what we do defensively spending a lot of time in the gym with our coaching staff. We needed him to make those shots tonight and he did."
Bush and Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) rounded out the Eagles' double-digit scorers with 13 and 12, respectively.
Thomas tied the school record for blocks with six. He also added in 11 boards and two steals to got with seven points.
Smith and AJ McKee paced Queens with 16 apiece. Smith had a double-double with 10 boards. Jay'den Turner and BJ McLaurin tallied 14 and 13 off the bench.
Kenny Dye had seven points and eight assists without a turnover.
Carson-Newman shot 50.9 percent from the field and knocked down 13-of-22 threes, including 8-for-10 in the second half. However, the percentages weren't enough to overcome Queens' 16-6 edge in the turnover battle. It marks the first time C-N has been minus-10 in the turnover battle since Feb. 13, 2019 at Anderson. The Trojans only turned it over five times compared to 17 for the Eagles.
That also marks the last time a Carson-Newman opponent turned it over fewer than seven times in a game.
Both teams made 20 assists in the contest. The Eagles had eight blocks highlighted by Thomas' record-tying six.
The win runs Queens' streak of consecutive wins in Holt to nine. The Eagles haven't beaten the Royals at home since a 92-55 beatdown in the first meeting between the programs on Dec. 18, 2012.
Carson-Newman steps out of conference play to take on Trevecca Nazarene Tuesday at 5:30 from Holt Fieldhouse. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on cneagles.com/live.
