VIDEO: Chuck Benson interview
VIDEO: Highlights
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Carson-Newman (20-10) turned in a comprehensive defensive effort and used an efficient shooting night to roll to a 78-66 win over top-seeded and seventh-ranked Lincoln Memorial (25-4) Saturday evening in the SAC semifinals at Furman's Timmons Arena.
"This was about elite follow through with our scout," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "We know our guys play hard and together, but we needed to play smart and we did just that. LMU is a top 10 team for a reason, but our guys defended at an elite level to neutralize that."
The Eagles kept Lincoln Memorial, the league's highest scoring team and the only team in the conference shooting better than 50 percent from the field for the season to 39.3 percent shooting and a season-low 4-of-25 effort from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, Carson-Newman relied on stellar play from its seniors. Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) led all scorers with 25 points on 6-of-14 shooting. He was 12-of-14 at the stripe – two made free throws off the SAC tournament record.
EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) became the 40th player to join Carson-Newman's 1,000-point club. He powered in an and-one late in the second half to get there.
"Our two seniors brought it today," Benson said. "Ren's point production wasn't there, but he was so good on the glass. I thought Luke Brenegan played a heck of a floor general game. It goes back to the collective. They defended at an elite level and that was the difference maker."
Bush finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of his senior season and the ninth of his career. Bush had nine after halftime, while Davis scored 13 second half points.
Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) rounded out the Eagles double-digit scorers with 10 points.
Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) set a new career high with 13 rebounds to go with eight points. Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) had seven and three dimes.
Carson-Newman shot 47.3 percent from the field and 50 percent after halftime. The Eagles only hit 3-of-13 threes, but were 23-of-42 from inside the arc on the game.
"Tripp got north south," Benson said. "We wanted to establish the interior and he followed through with that. That opened up shots and got us to the line a bunch."
Carson-Newman converted on 23-of-35 free throws, including 9-of-11 in the final five minutes of the game.
C-N owned a 40-32 edge on the boards. LMU was outrebounded by eight, its largest margin allowed on the year.
The Railsplitters had won seven consecutive semifinal games in the SAC tournament, and hadn't lost since dropping a decision to Wingate in 2012.
LMU grabbed a two point lead early in the second half off back-to-back Jordan Walters layups, but Carson-Newman countered with a 10-0 run and wouldn't lose the lead the rest of the way.
Davis sparked the run with a floater from the middle of the lane, then Bowens capped it with a layup to put the Eagles up eight, 47-39 at the under 16 media timeout.
LMU got within three with 6:18 to go on a pair of Martez Brown free throws, but C-N answered with eight straight. Bush hit his and-one to get his 1,000th career point to anchor the run before capping it with a free throw-line jump that put the Eagles up double digits for the first time on the night with 4:04 to play.
All-SAC Second Teamer Jordan Guest paced Lincoln Memorial with 15 points, albeit on 4-of-11 shooting. Chase Rankin added in 14 points.
While turnovers were nearly even in the game (C-N had 12 and LMU 13), Carson-Newman capitalized on all but one LMU miscue and outscored the 'Splitters 22-12 in points off turnovers.
Carson-Newman tries to become the first team in a decade to win back-to-back tournament Sunday at 4 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 p.m. with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
