VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Bryant Thomas Interview
VIDEO: Luke Brenegan Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (8-5) shot a season-low 36.8 percent from the field but canned 25-of-34 free throws en route to a 72-62 win over Erskine (1-10) Saturday at Holt Fieldhouse.
The win is the first for Carson-Newman when shooting below 37 percent from the field since beating Lenoir-Rhyne 55-51 on Feb. 7, 2015 at Shuford Gym.
Carsron-Newman rallied from its first double-digit deficit of the season and its first since Dec. 14, 2019 when the Eagles overcame an early 31-19 deficit to Coker before rolling in a 100-70 rout of the Cobras.
"Our shot-making, or shot-missing was a part of the game," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "We got good shots today and missed them. I'm not worried about that, because those will fall. Our guys know that philosophically we want to establish and inside-out game. Fortunately tonight we were able to get to the line a lot and capitalize."
The Eagles outrebounded the Flying Fleet 46-37 and had an 18-8 edge in scoring second-chance points.
Erskine knocked down its first six shots and bounded out to a 15-4 lead before the first media timeout. However, Carson-Newman quickly found its footing. Carson-Newmann rattled off a 14-2 run to snag a 22-21 lead with 7:52 to play in the first half after Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) and Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) both connected on jumpers.
The Eagles outscored the Flying Fleet 32-16 to close the first half and take a 37-31 lead into the halftime locker room.
A quintet of EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) free throws and a Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) three pushed Carson-Newman's edge out to 14 five minutes into the second half.
However, Carson-Newman's shooting woes allowed Erskine to hang around. The Eagles made just 7-of-24 shots from the field after halftime (29.2 percent). The Fleet made it a four-point game with 6:25 to play following a Travis Walters layup. However, the Eagles responded with a 6-0 run highlighted by a trio of Tyler Bowens (Greenville, S.C.) triples and a Nick Brenegan three.
"Brooks came in with one three on the year, and he makes five today," Benson said. "He found himself, and that's good for him. In spite of that, we kept our poise and were able to pull out the win."
Carson-Newman limited Erskine to 39.1 percent shooting the sixth out of C-N's last seven foes that it has held below 40 percent shooting.
Luke Brenegan led all scorers with 17 points. He was 4-for-11 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line. Brenegan also added in six boards.
Thomas turned in his third double-double in the Eagles' last five games and the fifth of his career. The center had 13 points and 12 boards to match a career high.
"Bryant has established himself as one of the premier players in this league," Benson said. "He and Ren were jacked up to do some things on the boards."
Nick Brenegan turned in the second double-digit effort of his redshirt-freshman campaign and the fourth of his career in his first career start. He had 12 points, going 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from three.
Emandi Brooks paced Erskine with 15 points. He had nine points in the first four minutes of the game before cooling off. Walters finished with 14 on 6-of-8 shooting.
Carson-Newman hops back into conference play Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against Coker. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:15 with the AEC Countdown to tipoff on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
