VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
SALISBURY, N.C. – Carson-Newman (16-5, 9-4 South Atlantic Conference) coughed up a season-high 20 turnovers in a 87-68 loss to Catawba (12-4, 9-3 SAC) Saturday afternoon at Goodman Gym.
Catawba, the SAC's leaders in turnovers forced, produced 14 steals and owned a 27-9 edge in points off turnovers in snapping C-N's three-game winning streak and handing the Eagles' their largest loss of the season.
"I guess I did a poor job these last couple days of helping our guys be prepared to deal with what we saw defensively," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "It's unfortunate, because out of the gate, I thought Catawba was concerned about what we might do to attack them and they were on their heels a little bit.
"The minute that they realized that today we were loose with the ball, that our decision making was a bit off. Once they smelled that out, they turned up the volume and surged. We could never regain our footing."
The Indians took 25 more shots than Carson-Newman and made 12 more shots than the Eagles thanks to the imbalance in ball security.
Catawba took control of the game with a 15-4 run late in the first half. Javeon Jones capped the surge with a three to give Catawba a 39-25 lead with 2:14 to go in the period. The Indians led 46-31 at the half, C-N's biggest halftime deficit of the season.
"There's not a great positive from this one," Benson said. "We are healthy after this one. And we approach the last seven games with a lot of confidence. I heard Rick Barnes talking about taking Tennessee to Kentucky last year and how they were down 20 at the half. I feel that there are a lot of similarities here. We came in here and got punched hard, couldn't return fire to the degree we wanted to. These things happen. What is most important is what happens next. This game is completely in the rearview at this point."
For the first time all season, Carson-Newman failed to have a 20-point scorer. Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) paced C-N with 18 points. He was 6-of-14 from the field and 2-of-7 from deep. Trey Hubbard (Charlotte, N.C.) added in 17 on 7-of-12 shooting.
Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) and John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) rounded out the Eagles' double-digit scorers with 13 and 11, respectively. Excluding the final four minutes of the game when Chuck Benson had fully turned to his bench, players outside of C-N's big four combined to score one point – an Ousame Dia (Dakar, Senegal) free throw.
Jones led Catawba with 17 points. He was efficient, going 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from three.
Montraivis White followed with 13 points, while O'Mazeon Tinsley had 12 and De'Angelo Epps 11.
Catawba's bench outscored C-N 30-8. Carson-Newman didn't get those eight points until the final 3:32 of the contest.
The Indians posted 13 offensive boards to C-N's seven, leading to a 14-5 edge in points in the paint.
Catawba buried 10-of-24 threes, just the sixth game this season the Indians have hit double-digit triples.
Carson-Newman heads to Mars Hill Wednesday to take on the Lions from Burt Stanford Arena :at 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.
