VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Jack Browder Interview
VIDEO: Bryant Thomas Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Needing a win to keep its South Atlantic Conference tournament hopes alive, Carson-Newman (13-14, 7-10 SAC) delivered in grand fashion with a 106-79 beatdown of Emory & Henry (15-12, 6-11 SAC) Wednesday night in Holt Fieldhouse.
Carson-Newman crested the century mark for the fourth time this season and the first in the 2023 calendar year after being mired in the offensive doldrums for much of this year.
"Clearly, we are demonstrating that we have some offensive confidence going, and I'm so happy that they have found that," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "So many good things can be said about this game, and hopefully we can carry those things over to Saturday."
The win is Carson-Newman's 15th straight in the series with the Wasps. Carson-Newman has won all 15 games by double-digits.
Carson-Newman shot a withering 55.4 percent from the field and canned 13-of-28 threes (46.4 percent). The Eagles have hit 55 percent of their shots from the field in back-to-back games, the second time this season the Eagles have pulled off that feat (Southern Wesleyan, Clayton State is the other two-game stretch).
However, on top of the shot-making, Carson-Newman pulled down 19 offensive boards and outscored Emory & Henry 24-19 in second chance points. As a result, Carson-Newman scored on 67.2 percent of its possessions (45 scores on 67 possessions). The 19 offensive boards are a season high.
"It's crazy," Benson said. "It's very crazy, but our guys did it. I challenged them because I thought that we'd come up short in terms of offensive boards. But they delivered in that regard and shot the ball well in the process."
Carson-Newman started the game on a 6-0 run and never trailed in its fourth wire-to-wire win of the year. The Eagles used a 7-0 first half run to take their first double-digit lead with four minutes to play in the period after two Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) layups sandwiched a Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) three.
The Eagles carried a nine-point lead into the halftime lockerroom. The teams traded buckets to open the second half before Emory & Henry scored five straight to cut the deficit to seven ahead of the under 16 media timeout with a Gabe Brown three.
Carson-Newman responded with a 15-1 run to put the game away. Browder started the run with a tear drop before Camden McElhaney (Sevierville, Tenn.) finished it with a tip in that gave C-N a 78-57 lead with 10:03 to play.
Aiding C-N's success was its ball security. The Eagles turned it over a season-low six times. For the first time since 2007 (Tusculum), Carson-Newman's opponent did not have a steal.
First time a @cn_hoops opponent doesn't have a steal since 2007. @bsmoothxx, @JackBrowder3 and Nick Brenegan combine for 66 pic.twitter.com/gYIRqum3vN
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) February 23, 2023
"I don't think there's any simple, clear, easy explanation for their lack of a steal," Benson said. "Guys stayed in their comfort zones and allowed their strengths to be on display. Kudos to our guys for doing that again."
The triumvirate of Browder, Thomas and Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) paced Carson-Newman with a combined 66 points.
Browder reset his career high with 25 points. He was an effective 8-of-13 from the field and 4-of-6 from three. He also added in five boards and three assists.
Meanwhile, Thomas turned in a second straight 20-point night. He had 22 on 9-of-12 shooting to go with six boards and three blocks. In Carson-Newman's last two games he has attempted 32 shots and only missed eight.
Finally, the younger Brenegan brother tallied 19. He was 7-of-14 from the field and 3-of-7 from deep. Brenegan also had four rebounds and four dimes.
"The continued emergence and consistency of Nick Brenegan and Jack Browder is important," Benson said. "However, from a collective team standpoint, what's so important is only six turnovers. Our lack of ball security was such an oppressive situation. We've had fewer turnovers the last two games than we had in some halves of basketball when we were struggling."
John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) rounded out C-N's double-digit scorers with 13 points. He was 5-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from three.
Carson-Newman turned up its defensive intensity to pull away in the second half. After the Wasps started the game shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 40 percent from three in the first half, the Eagles clamped down and limited E&H to 34.2 percent shooting from the field and a 6-of-18 effort from three after halftime.
"They were clearly comfy and confident," Benson said. "We challenged our guys and switched up our ball screen coverage. Our shot contests were also better. Those were the big differences, then our shotmaking kept game pressure high."
The Wasps finished the game shooting 41.8 percent from the field.
C-N won the rebounding battle 43-30 and doubled up the Wasps in the paint 48-24.
Carson-Newman needs to continue to win to have a shot at the league tournament. A win Saturday over Coker on senior day at 4 p.m. coupled with a Limestone loss to Wingate would cement C-N its spot. Coverage against Coker starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
