VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Ben Beeker Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (9-2) shot a season-best 62.7 percent from the field, canned 8-of-9 second half threes and overcame its largest deficit of the season en route to the program's 1,200th win all-time in a 98-87 victory over Belmont Abbey (3-9) Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.
Belmont Abbey started the game on an 11-0 run. C-N utilized a 19-3 surge spanning the halftime break to flip that advantage on its head. During the stretch, the Eagles connected on 16-of-17 shots over a 12-minute period. The offensive firepower would guide C-N to a 20-point lead before staving off the Crusader. The win snaps a three-game losing streak to BAC and gets head coach Chuck Benson his first career win over the Conference Carolinas school in four tries.
In spite of the eye-popping offensive numbers, Benson was frustrated with how the Eagles executed their offense.
"If you are saying the offense is good based on total points and percentages, all that is true," Benson said. "We know our overall execution was not good enough. Perhaps it was the return coming back from Christmas. We have to do a better job with our execution in the halfcourt against set defense. Period."
Four Eagles combined for 79 points. John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.), Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Trey Hubbard (Charlotte, N.C.) all had 20 points apiece. Ben Beeker (Hendersonville, N.C.) reset his career highs for scoring and boards with a 19-point, nine-rebound showing.
Zhao, Browder and Hubbard become just the third trio of Eagles to combine to score 20 points each in a game for C-N in the last seven years. The other trios are Bryant Thomas, Luke and Nick Brenegan at Wingate last year; and Charles Clark, Shaun Jones and Sawyer Williams against Coker in February 2017.
"I just wanted to come in and do what the team needed from me," Beeker said. "Today, that just happened to be setting me up for shots. I play with a lot of talented guys who are willing and great passers. Anyone can score a lot of points on any one night, I'm just lucky tonight it was me."
All four players were efficient from the field. Zhao canned 7-of-12 field goals and 4-of-8 threes. Browder turned in his fifth double-double of the season with 10 boards to go with his 7-of-12 effort from the field and 3-of-5 mark from deep. Hubbard went 6-of-10 from the field, 1-of-2 from three and 7-of-8 at the charity stripe. Finally, Beeker was 6-of-9 from the field and a career-best 7-of-9 at the free throw line.
Carson-Newman started sluggishly offensively as the Crusaders bounded out to their 11-0 lead. C-N turned the ball seven times in the first eight minutes of the game before only giving it up five more times over the final 33 minutes.
C-N started 1-of-7 from the field offensively before humming along the remainder of the game. The Eagles made 31 of their final 44 shots from the field.
"I am happy that we stabilized in the second half with our turnovers," Benson said. "I liked the fact that we did a good job of establishing the free throw line in the second half. I liked the fact that we did turn it up in terms of our transition production, finding easy shots in transition. Ben, Jack, Trey, minus the turnovers, and John all had some solid performances. Make no mistakes, there were some good things from today."
Benson ended up quoting Mark Twain when discussing how the game actually played out compared to what the final box score said.
"Today, there was a disconnection between our coaches and our players on the floor," Benson said. "Typically, this group is good about the follow through of a request. Today, it felt like we were begging. If you're begging, you're probably not going to get the desired results. We internally know a cut, an angle, a timing, if you look at the box score, don't show up. There's lies, dang lies and statistics. These stats are confusing because our overall execution and performance were not what we'd want today."
The contest marked the second time this season the Eagles shot better than 60 percent from the field. Carson-Newman canned 12-of-21 threes for a seventh game with at least 10 threes and a third straight. C-N shot better than 55 percent from the field for a third consecutive game and the Eagles crested 95 points at home for a fifth time in six home contests.
"98 points is an outcome," Beeker said. "Once you shoot a ball, you can't control what it's going to do. The process is what's important. I don't think our process is where it needed to be. The outcome was, and we are fortunate for that. Our execution needs to be tighter. We have talented guys. It's a credit to the work they have put in. We have talented offensive players. But talent can only get you so far. There are going to be nights when talent fails you and you're not hitting shots. That's when it's important for the process to be up to standard. As great as tonight was, that process was not up to standard."
Down 28-22 with five minutes to play in the first half, Carson-Newman ignited its hot-shooting stretch with a fast-break layup from Hubbard. Back-to-back threes from Browder and Zhao gave the Eagles the lead for good with 3:18 to play in the first half. C-N carried a seven-point lead into the halftime locker room before surging ahead by double-digits on Hubbard's three to open the second. A 16-6 scoring run with 12:50 to play in the game pushed the edge to 20 following a Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) triple and a Beeker putback.
However, Belmont Abbey would not go quietly into the night. After limiting the Crusaders to 1-of-8 shooting from deep through the first 30 minutes of the game, the Crusaders found themselves getting open looks from range, specifically Kyle Frazier. One of Conference Carolinas' top three-point marksmen canned six triples without missing, five in the second half alone.
He buried three straight threes on three straight possessions to spark a 14-5 Crusader run capped by a bizarre five-point play featuring a Jaylen Jones and-one tip in, missed free throw, offensive rebound and Mason Taylor and one. That evaporated Carson-Newman's 20-point lead in half in a span of 34 seconds.
"We got fat-cat syndrome there for about a four-minute stretch," Benson said. "We really defended Kyle Frazier well. We gave up one three for the first half, then, they make seven in the last 10 minutes of the game. That's a lack of focus. We got up and we relaxed. You can't do that if you're going to put a complete 40 minutes together."
Carson-Newman did find its footing, and didn't let the Crusaders get any closer than nine the rest of the way.
BAC only had two players in double digits in Taylor and Frazier. Taylor went for 25 on 11-of-20 shooting, while Frazier didn't miss on eight shots and had 22, including a perfect 6-of-6 mark from deep.
Nick Brenegan was C-N's fifth double-digit scorer. He had 11.
Belmont Abbey shot 49.3 percent from the field for the game. C-N outrebounded the Crusaders 35-27 to win the rebounding battle for a 10th time in 11 games.
"A win is the ultimate check," Benson said. "But man, this is no the kind of day where you go home and feel good. I hope our players don't either. It's great that we won, but we have to play a lot better than that."
Carson-Newman returns to South Atlantic Conference Play Wednesday at Lincoln Memorial. Tipoff with the Railsplitters is set for 7:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
