VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Charles Clark Interview
VIDEO: Mason Bates Interview
MARS HILL, N.C. – Carson-Newman (12-9, 8-7 South Atlanti Conference) and Mars Hill (9-11, 5-9 SAC) swapped leads 10 times and were tied nine times in the first 34 minutes of their 69th meeting Wednesday night at Stanford Arena.
However, Carson-Newman closed the game outscoring the Lions 31-15 over the contest's final seven minutes to erase any doubt that Mars Hill could grasp a win to complete the season sweep of the Lions 104-88.
"I'm really proud of our kids when you consider that we didn't have Carson Brooks (who went down with a knee injury against Queens) tonight," head coach Chuck Benson said. "We didn't ask our guys to do anything more than they'd been doing. Late in the second half, the transition buckets we got, and the way Charles Clark took over definitely did the job for us tonight."
The contest allowed a slew of Eagles to hit the reset button on their career highs. Charles Clark (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) upped his to 39 points. He connected on 14 of his 20 shots and three of his four threes. Clark also dished out five assists and matches his career high with five steals.
Following Clark, Mason Bates (Cookeville, Tenn.) collected his first 20-point outing on 8-for-10 shooting. He also reset his career high for rebounds with eight.
"Mason stepped up," Benson said. "He had to play out of position at times, even playing power forward. He's a sophomore, but he's played at lot of college basketball. He was very efficient in his execution and he was really committed on that back line to team rebounding."
Josh Rogers (Bristol, United Kingdom) nearly matched his career high for points. He finished one shy of the 19 he had in the NCAA tournament against Montevallo. Rogers produced 18 points on the night on 7-for-8 shooting. He also snatched five boards for the fifth double-double of his senior season and the 10th of his career.
Zack Pangallo (Newport, Ky.) added 13 points round out the Eagles' double-digit scorers. He too reset a career high with four steals.
The Eagles shot 65 percent for the game, their most efficient offensive night of the season.
Carson-Newman's defensive pressure in the second half helped seal the deal. The Lions were bombing away from beyond the arc in the first half and knocked down seven of their first 11 attempts from three-point land.
Patrick Monroe was the chief thorn in the Eagles side. He buried all six of his first half threes and had 18 at the break.
The Eagles were able to clamp down on him in the second half. He only had four points after the break and didn't make a three.
"Our guys did a bit better job in the second half of executing our plan," Benson said. "They were consistently there with a hand in his face, disrupting his shot."
After connecting on 9-of-18 threes in the first half, the Lions were just 5-of-16 from deep in the second. The 14 triples are the second most MHU has hit in a single game this season.
The Eagles scored 60 in a half for the first time since November 2007 when they trailed 62-60 after a first half of action against King. The Eagles outscored the Lions 60-48 in the second half with the bulk of the swing taking place after the seven-minute mark.
Mars Hill had a 71-68 lead with 8:54 left before Clark erased that when he produced an 8-0 run all by his lonesome. C-N then extended that spurt to a 14-2 run to push the lead to double digits, 75-66 on a Clark pull-up jumper from the left elbow with 3:47 to play.
Clark had 10 points in the last five minutes of the game and 20 in the last 8:54.
The Eagles are back home Saturday against Catawba. Tipoff with the Indians is at 4 p.m. Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
