VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- Carson-Newman (11-11, 5-7 South Atlantic Conference) fell behind by its largest deficit of the season, but rallied to get within a pair of possessions before falling 86-78 at Catawba (15-5, 10-2 SAC) Saturday at Goodman Gym.
Catawba shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and canned 7-of-14 threes en route to building a 52-34 halftime lead. The Indians had the Eagles down by 24 at times, the largest deficit C-N had faced this season.
However, C-N finished the half with a lineup that had never been on the floor together. Ben Beeker, Camden McElhaney, Nick Brenegan, Jack Browder and Jarius Satterfield closed the half together and got the deficit down to 18 at the break.
"What's most important is competitive fire and drive," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "We made a lineup change late in the first half, from that point on, our drive and fire stayed up and stayed there. Every individual needs to bring that. Winners do the things they are supposed to do before they become winners. Champions do the things they need to do before they become champions. We have guys who have won here and won championships here, but we seemed to have lost the plot on that you have to do these things before you get the outcome. We will learn from this game. I cannot wait to get to the next one."
C-N used an 11-2 burst to trim the deficit to 11 early in the second half after a Browder layup. A 10-2 run with under two minutes left got C-N within six before time ran out on the Eagles' comeback efforts.
The Eagles limited Catawba to 32.1 percent shooting after halftime, including a 3-of-11 mark from three. The Indians finished the game shooting 42.4 percent from the field.
"If you are making tomato soup," Benson said. "You better have tomatoes. That's the base of the soup. If you don't have that competitive fire, nothing else is going to work. That competitive fire is our main ingredient. Those guys on the floor demonstrated it. Those guys on the bench saw that. Mac, Jarius and Jack Browder did really nice things. Same for Ben Beeker. They set a pace in terms of the competitiveness that I think going into Wednesday that we look to replicate."
McElhaney produced a career night, scoring 10 points for the first time in his career on 4-of-6 shooting. He also added in a career-best eight boards. He was one of three double-digit scorers for C-N.
When McElhaney was on the floor, Carson-Newman was +14.
"Cam had competitive juice today," Benson said. "It's easy to be a Luke Brenegan, who has started 90 games. It's tough to be Cam who rarely plays big minutes. I'm proud of what he showed. It's what we needed and he helped us make it interesting."
Luke and Nick Brenegan rounded out Carson-Newman's double-digit scorers, tallying 15 and 12, respectively. Luke connected on 6-of-8 shot attempts, while Nick was 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-4 from three.
Carson-Newman shot 51.4 percent from the field after halftime and laid claim to a 44-37 rebounding margin.
However, those numbers weren't able to make up the deficit dug by the Eagles' turnovers and free throw shooting.
Carson-Newman shot a paltry 11-of-23 at the line, compared to Catawba's 20-of-26 effort.
Similarly, the Eagles turned it over 21 times compared to 15 for the Indians. Catawba had a 26-16 edge in points off turnovers.
"Every team has a hierarchy," Benson said. "We have guys who have been fluid within their roles. We made some decisions late in the first half that we thought would give us the best opportunity to win. They clearly did. What we found today was just how important and valuable it is to compete and never surrender."
Carson-Newman stays on the road Wednesday at Mars Hill. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. 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.
