VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Luke Brenegan Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-2) held Columbus State (4-2) without a point for the final 5:09 of a Division II basketball game Friday night inside Holt Fieldhouse.
However, the Eagles only made one of their final 10 shots over the final eight minutes and saw the Cougars hang on for a 58-56 win in a defensive war.
The numbers seemed balanced in C-N's favor. The Eagles held CSU to 35 percent shooting from the field, 25 percent shooting from three and outrebound Columbus State 48-32. However, C-N coughed up 14 turnovers to CSU's seven and the Cougars outscored the Eagles 15-4 off those giveaways.
"If you tell me we hold that team to 58 points, outrebound them by 16 and get to the free throw line more than they did," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "And then you told me we lost that game, I would have told you that something had to go horrifically wrong. Something did go horrifically wrong tonight. It was simply a combination of our turnovers and moreso our lack of execution of our offense, especially in the second half. It was not up to par."
Carson-Newman led by as many as nine in the first half before a 12-0 second-half Cougar run tipped the game in CSU's favor. The country's top three-point shooter, Danile Melvin, sparked the run with back-to-back triples before Kalen Clifton finished it with a three.
"Our execution was not there," senior guard Luke Brenegan said. "Our coaches were asking us to do things we know how to do and do well. We just didn't do them tonight."
The Cougars were up 49-43 following that burst with 11:49 to play. They got the lead to nine with 5:09 left after a Demierre Black jumper but wouldn't score again.
"If there is one thing defensive that I wasn't happy with, it was from a personnel standpoint, there was a sliver where we lost Melvin," Benson said. "There was a short span where we lost awareness of him and he exploited us. There's a reason he's the number one three-point shooter in the country. He took advantage of our miscues."
Carson-Newman cut into the deficit with free throw shooting. A pair of Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) free throws cut the deficit to four with 3:22 to play. Carson-Newman wouldn't score again until a Thomas turnaround J with 107 seconds left to make it a two-point game.
"In a game like this, you know neither team is going to allow runs." Benson said. "Because of the nature of this game, 14 turnovers really becomes a lot because the value of each possession is amplified. Congrats to them. They did their part to make it difficult for us. I'm more disappointed in our lack of fortitude to control what we can control in that regard."
Four of C-N's turnovers came within the final three minutes of the game (two were on fouls after securing offensive rebounds).
Even with the giveaways, Carson-Newman had five shots in the final 36 seconds to either tie or take the lead. A sixth was a halfcourt heave at the buzzer.
"We always have to have an alignment between our coaches and our players," Benson said. "Against an elite defensive team like Columbus, you have to be committed to the execution. The question I have to answer is why we weren't committed to that and struggled with it."
The loss spoiled twin double-doubles from Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) and Thomas. Dyer had his 11th career double-double, but his first in a Carson-Newman loss with 17 points and a career-best 16 rebounds. The 16 boards are tied for the seventh most in a single game in school history.
Thomas notched his ninth career double-double and his second of the year with 12 points, all in the second half, and 11 boards.
John Zhao was Carson-Newman's other double-digit scorer. He had 11 points, all in the first half.
Carson-Newman outrebounded Columbus State 48-32, its fourth double-digit rebounding margin in its last five games.
"Our defense and rebounding today was elite," Benson said. "That same defense and rebounding will win us games this year. I really thought that we could execute, and was confident we could execute at a high level. We didn't."
Melvin led CSU with 18 points. He went 4-for-8 from deep. Black was CSU's only other double-digit scorer. He had 12.
Carson-Newman shot a season-low 37 percent from the field and was 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) after halftime. That mark included an 0-of-7 effort from three.
It marks the first time an Eagle opponent has won a game when scoring fewer than 60 points since Newberry's 55-51 win over C-N on Dec. 11, 2021. It's the second time in eight games that a team shooting worse than 37 percent from the field as beaten the Eagles (Queens did so in spite of shooting 33.9 percent from the field in last year's SAC title game).
Carson-Newman opens SAC play Wednesday at Limestone at 7:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 7:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
