Chuck Benson Interview

Kevin Leatherwood, Ray Like, Antoine Davis and Ish Sanders chaos

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's (18-6, 15-5 South Atlantic Conference) four seniors closed out the regular season at Holt Fieldhouse in style Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles rallied from a 14-point first half deficit to dethrone Queens (12-12, 10-10 SAC) 90-75.  C-N has won seven straight to match its longest winning streak from a year ago.  The Eagles have also won 12 consecutive at Holt Fieldhouse against conference competition. 

C-N used a 24-7 run spanning the halftime break to erase the Royals' lead and take a seven-point advantage of its own.  A 14-1 run later in the half would push the lead to 18 with 3:25 left in the contest. 

Queens jumped out of the gates on a 12-3 run with some atypical play.  The Royals, who came into the game second to last in the nation in threes made and attempted, canned eight of 11 threes in the first half.  Six of the Royals first eight made field goals came from behind the arc. 

"We really talked about one primary thing and that was that we weren't going to deviate from our scheme and to expect a grind," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "We wanted to show the poise that we possess to maintain our purpose and plan even when we were down."

The Royals went cold in the second half, missing their first five treys.  All the while, the Eagles' zone put a clamp on Queens talented post players. While the Royals finished 12-of-23 from three, they were just 11-for-40 inside the three-point arc. 

Queens suffered through a seven-minute field goal drought in the second half while the Eagles built their double digit lead. 

"It was obvious today that they just came out there launching them," Benson said. "But we made some tweaks and were able to shut down their overall effectiveness.  We did a good job of getting bodies inside and limiting their touches. It's a testament to our kids and the follow through of the plans." 

Carson-Newman scored the nets for a sixth consecutive game above 50 percent. The Eagles hit 56.1 percent of their shots and 45 percent of their threes. 

Both Antoine Davis (Rustburg, Va.) and Ish Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) bested several milestones in the game.

Sanders took over fifth place in both the Carson-Newman and South Atlantic Conference all-time scoring annals with his 31-point performance.  Sanders passed Arnold Mellinger – the only Eagle in either men's or women's basketball to have his jersey hang from the rafters of Holt Fieldhouse – on the C-N all-time scoring list.  He moved past Mars Hill's Lamont Jones and James Barber on the SAC leaderboard. Sanders has 1,848 points in his career.  

He drained a season high seven threes in the game.  The 31 points mark his third 30-point game of his senior season. 

Antoine Davis moved into eighth place on the Eagles' all-time scoring list and into second on the program's all-time Division II scoring list.  Davis moved beyond Kyle Gribble and up to 1,483 career points following his 23-point game.

Davis stuffed the stat sheet to celebrate his final regular season home game with nine boards and six assists against zero turnovers. 

"I'm familiar with this program's history and they're two of the greater players to ever come through here," Benson said. "What they've been able to accomplish individually and for our team's sake, is just outstanding."

Carson Brooks (Knoxville, Tenn.) rounded out the Eagles' double-digit scorers following a 15-point outing.   

Jarrett Stokes led the Royals with 24 points, but he just had six after halftime.  The Eagles held Josh Clyburn and Nkosi Ali – the Royals' primary posts – to a combined two-of-17 shooting and 12 points.  They were averaging 27 combined coming in to the contest.

The Eagles finish the season with back-to-back road games at Lincoln Memorial and Newberry.  C-N makes the trip to Harrogate, Tenn. Wednesday for an 8 p.m. tip with the Railsplitters.  Pregame coverage for the game  with the 14^th-ranked team in the nation is set for 7:45 with the Countdown to Tipoff on 106.3 ESPN Radio The Zone (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. 

-CN-