VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
HICKORY, N.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne (16-7, 11-7 South Atlantic Conference) pummeled Carson-Newman (14-10, 10-8 SAC) on the offensive glass and evened the season series with the Eagles with an 83-64 win Saturday at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.
L-R outrebounded C-N 48-27 to go along with 21 offensive boards and 26 second chance points. The Bears' plus-21 rebounding margin marks the first time the Eagles have been outrebounded by 20 or more since Brevard outrebounded C-N 50-28 in a 69-55 Carson-Newman win on Dec. 17, 2011.
"This is a tough one because this is more a styles make the fight thing," head coach Chuck Benson said. "They took 38 shots from beyond 20 feet. Those misses tend to bounce erratically. These weren't traditional rebounds, these were more chase them down rebounds. They were in those situations a lot and we don't see that a lot. I don't want to get too upset about it because our goal is to make people miss shots. We did that, they were just able to chase down a lot of long rebounds."
The Bears used a 12-2 run midway through the first half to turn a close game into a double-digit lead, a 10-point advantage L-R wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.
Even though the Bears only shot 38 percent from beyond the arc and 42 percent from the field in the first half, the volume of second chance opportunities they had was stupefying. Of Lenoir-Rhyne's 13 missed threes in the first half, the Bears grabbed offensive boards on nine of them and converted six into second chance points.
The Bears had 20 second chance points in the first half off 14 offensive rebounds to lead C-N 42-25 at the break.
The bounces going the Bears way weren't helped by Carson-Newman's own issues. The Eagles' Charles Clark (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), the SAC's leading scorer, only played eight minutes in the first half. He sat much of the opening stanza with foul trouble and only had four points at the break.
Couple that with C-N's shots not dropping, and the Eagles' had a recipe for a double-digit deficit.
"The first half we were 1-of-9 from the three and they were wide open shots," Benson said. "We had wide open looks tonight and missed them. Zack Pangallo leads this league in three-point shooting. He was 1-of-6 from the three in the first half. He couldn't have gotten better looks. They just didn't go. You couple that with a Charles Clark being foul trouble and you couple that with their shot-making slash rebound ability in the first half, that's astronomically difficult to overcome."
The Eagles shot 45.3 percent for the day, the first time in seven games that the nation's most efficient offense was held below 50 percent shooting.
Will Perry led the L-R attack with 21 points, going 7-of-10 from deep. Keenan Palmore nearly snagged his fifth triple-double of the season with 20 points, nine boards and nine assists.
The Bears hit 15 of their 38 threes.
Carson-Newman returns home Wednesday for a rivalry game with Tusculum. Tipoff with the Pioneers is set for 8 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network on Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live 15 minutes prior to tip with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff.
