VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Lander (9-2) canned a season-high 19 threes and became the first team to crest 90 on Carson-Newman (10-3) in three years as the Bearcats took a crazy 94-85 win over the Eagles Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse.
The final scored belies how nuts the contest was. The Bearcats nailed seven straight shots, including six consecutive from long range while Carson-Newman went four minutes without a bucket. By the under eight-media timeout, Lander had built a 22-point lead following a 22-2 explosion.
However, Carson-Newman countered with a 10-0 run spanning the halftime break and a 12-1 spurt to take a lead just eight-minutes into the second half. However, over a four-minute stretch, the Bearcats countered with an 8-0 burst to create enough distance to lock up its second win in the series.
"I don't ever remember having the team shoot the ball like that here, since like 2011," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "I told our staff that they were going to shoot 40 threes, and that's what they did. That strategy is a wise move for their personnel. I loved our fight. There was just about a four-possession stretch late in that second half that just undid us with turnovers. They really surged to that 10-point lead."
Lander's 19-40 effort from distance ranks as the most threes made against Carson-Newman since Benson took over as head coach in 2010. Lander head coach Omar Wattad was also on the sidelines of the last nightmarish barrage that C-N had to contend with – when Lincoln Memorial buried 18-of-34 en route to a 108-69 shellacking in Holt. Wattad was an assistant on that LMU team.
The Bearcats became the first team to score 90 on Carson-Newman in Holt since Mars Hill put up 99 in a 99-90 win over C-N on Dec. 18, 2019.
"It's a non-conference game, and a chance to learn some lessons and reflect on ourselves," Benson said. "Collectively, I love this team. I'm not surprised by their response. I appreciate the excuse of having a lockerroom flooded with 40 days and nights of rain, but we challenged our guys to not let that be a distraction, and we can't blame this performance on that. I thought we did some things performance wise that lead to better outcomes in the second half, but we need to have 40 minutes of that."
While Lander relied on the outside attack, Carson-Newman made its hay offensively inside. Carson-Newman shot 47.3 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from deep, albeit on 7-of-13 attempts. The Eagles outscore the Bearcats inside 32-18 and got to the line 34 times, making 26 of those free throws (80.8 percent).
The teams were so diametrically opposed stylistically. A whopping 64.5 percent of Lander's shots were from beyond the arc, compared to 23.6 percent for C-N.
The Bearcats outscored C-N on the break 29-14. Of those 29 fast break buckets, 21 were the result of seven transition threes.
"I thought in the first half, our transition defense, which is typically pretty strong, was questionable," Benson said. "I also thought that our scout-based personnel recognition was not where it needed to be. Finally, I thought you saw Lander make some really tough shots. We want to impact catch threes. We didn't do a great job of that. Lander made those, but they also took and made step-back, non-rhythm and dribble threes. Kudos to them. Omar Wattad has done a really nice job putting together a good-quality team. Playing this type of game is good for us."
All 10 players who saw the floor for Lander scored and all but one hit a three. In fact, seven of the 10 Bearcat players who played canned multiple triples. Dominic Stanford, Chandler Lindsey and Jacob Cooper all had 14 points. Noah Dunn added in 13.
Carson-Newman got career nights from Monty Johal (Springfield, Mo. ) and Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.). Browder led Carson-Newman in scoring and rebounding for the first time his career with 18 points and eight boards. All of Browder's scoring came in the second half.
"Jack Browder really played well in the second half," Benson said. "We keep trying to find ways to get him on the floor, and that was a plus to see him deliver against strong competition."
Meanwhile, Johal turned in a 17-point night He was 6-of-15 from the field and also had a career-best five boards.
Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) and Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) added in 16 and 11, respectively.
Lander became the second team to shoot better than 45 percent from the field against the Eagles (Clayton State is the other). The Bearcats hit 48.4 percent of their shots.
Carson-Newman wraps up non-conference play Tuesday at Belmont Abbey. Tipoff with the Crusaders is set for 4:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins 15 minutes prior to tip with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
