VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Jack Browder Interview
VIDEO: Ben Beeker Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (19-6, 12-5 South Atlantic Conference) coughed it up a season-high 23 times, but was so witheringly efficient offensively that it managed to stiff-arm a bonkers Anderson (13-11, 8-8 SAC) rally for a 103-101 win Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse.
Carson-Newman lead 54-30 at the halftime break before the Trojans dropped 71 points in the second half, including 31 in the final 5:15 of the game to make the contest far tighter than C-N would have preferred.
While the Eagles turned it over 23 times, Anderson was ball secure. The Trojans only had five turnovers on the day. Anderson enjoyed a 25-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
"A conference win is always a blessing," head coach Chuck Benson said. "We bounced back from the loss against Tusculum. However, even Ronny Millsap could have seen what the problem with this one was. We had 23 turnovers and they had 25 points off them. Credit to Anderson for staying committed. I knew at half up 24 that they wouldn't go away. We couldn't play to not lose. We put up 50 points ourselves but were just too loose with the ball. I'm disappointed that our ball security was in question for a second straight game. Those second half turnovers absolutely killed us."
Carson-Newman and Anderson both made 37 shots on the day. However, the Trojans had 21 more attempts. C-N shot 61.7 percent from the field for its third 60+ percent game of the season. The Eagles were also stellar from long range, going 14-of-29 from deep.
It allowed Carson-Newman to crest the century mark for an 11th time this season; however, it also meant that Anderson became the first team to score triple-digits on C-N since Lees-McRae did so to open the 2019-20 season 130 games ago.
Carson-Newman led by as many as 28 in the first half on the strength of two substantial scoring runs. A 16-4 run at the mid-point of the first half turned a five-point Eagle lead into a 17-point advantage, 36-19 with 9:41 to go in the opening half.
Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) was positively beastly on the burst. He sandwiched two threes around an and-one take to cap the burst as a part of a 23-point first half.
C-N would then stretch the edge to 28 with a 16-2 run with a minute to go in the half before Anderson scored the final four points of the period to set the halftime margin at 24.
"This was definitely the longest basketball game ever," Carson-Newman senior forward Ben Beeker said. "After the emotions of the Tusculum Wednesday, any win is good for us. We'll take it 10 times out of 10. Basketball is a crazy game, and today was certainly crazy. This tested us and we faced adversity today. The mental toughness that we had to display today in spite of that adversity will benefit us come the conference tournament."
C-N was still up by 24 with 9:50 to play and led by 18 after a Browder jumper with 5:54 to go. However, from that point on, Anderson would outscore the Eagles 31-15 to make the result in doubt.
It largely was the byproduct of C-N turnovers. The Eagles made eight of their final nine shots for the game, while the Trojans connected on their final seven shot attempts and 11-of-14 inside of six minutes.
C-N turned it over five times, all on steals, in the final five minutes to leave the door ajar for the Trojans. AU turned all five turnovers into points, getting 11 off the Eagle miscues in that sequence.
The Eagles did find their ball security in the final minute. Playing turnover free in the final 60 seconds and connecting on 5-of-6 free throws in the final 45 seconds to do just enough to get the win.
"We did have a degree of poise late," Benson said. "We always celebrate wins, but our guys are the kind of guys who are interested and invested in the quality of the performance, even though this was a win. We'll stay up and excited as February winds down and we begin to prepare for postseason play."
AJ Wright, who had all 25 of his points for the Trojans after halftime, canned a three to set the final margin with 3.3 seconds left. C-N was able to execute a hook-and-ladder inbounds pass to the timeline to avoid a final foul and burn the final 3.3 seconds without issue.
Browder turned in a career-high with 31 points. He was 10-of-20 from the field, 7-of-13 from three and 4-of-6 from the line. He narrowly missed out on his ninth double-double of the year with nine boards.
"He had the hot hand, no question," Benson said. "Our guys were happy to continue to help him hunt shots. Even today, John Zhao was not a 10 in terms of his health. We still were able to find a way to compete with a lot of options and a lot of talented guys."
Browder was especially unconscious in the first half when he buried six of the first seven threes he took.
"I was shooting the ball well and we are such a versatile team," Browder said. "I'm blessed that it was me scoring today. I was feeling good and my teammates were getting me involved. I'm thankful my teammates trusted me today."
He was one of five Eagles in double figures. Trey Hubbard (Charlotte, N.C.) turned in his second double-double of the season with 25 points and 10 assists. Carson-Newman had had two double-doubles with points and assists in the last decade. Hubbard has done it twice in the last two months.
"Trey did a really nice job sharing it," Benson said. "We've encouraged him to be more aggressive in transition. He is listening and improving at being able to exploit opportunities that we may have missed out on earlier this season."
Hubbard was efficient in getting to his 25 points. He was 9-of-15 from the field. Hubbard's 10 assists were a part of a 27-assist night for the team. Ousmane Dia (Dakar, Senegal) reset his career high with six assists.
Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) had a quite 19, while Beeker added in 11 on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting night.
Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) produced his first double-double of the season and the 14th of his career with 12 points and 15 rebounds – one off his career high. Dyer's 15-board night is the 19th, 15-rebound game in school history.
Anderson became the first C-N opponent in four years (Wingate on Jan. 25, 2020 was the last) to have six players finish in double digits.
Wright led AU with 25, all of which came in the second half. Garrett Denbow added in an efficient 20 on 9-of-15 shooting. Mack Burgett had 14 and Luke Denbow 13. Dallas Jones and Austin Webb rounded out AU's double-digit scorers with 12 and 10, respectively.
C-N outrebounded the Trojans 42-29 for the game. AU had 16 steals, the most allowed by a Chuck Benson-coached C-N team.
Carson-Newman hits the road Wednesday to take on UVA Wise. Tipoff from the Prior Convocation Center is set for 7:30 p.m. Pregame 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.
