VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
VIDEO: John Zhao Interview
MARS HILL, N.C. – The only thing that went wrong for Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson Wednesday night was the popcorn.
The Eagles (17-5, 10-4 South Atlantic Conference) dismantled Mars Hill (2-18, 1-12 SAC) 99-72 Wednesday night at Burt Stanford Arena, but C-N's 14-year head coach's pregame popcorn partaking prevented a perfect night.
"I feel I am a connoisseur of anything edible, and I have a soft spot for good popcorn," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "I've eaten popcorn at hundreds of gyms. I encountered something today that if I could file a formal complaint I would. Mars Hill has never let me down with road popcorn, until today. I was charged not one, not two, but three dollars for smallest cup of popcorn, not a bag. 300 pennies. I was probably paying between four and five cents per kernel. I was disappointed. Thank goodness we won, but my pregame popcorn has left me hollow."
While Benson was nonplussed about his inability to shovel popcorn into his gaping and vacuous maw, he was pleased with C-N's performance in the win in bounce back fashion after dropping a game to Catawba, Saturday.
"This was definitely a good bounce back after our loss at Catawba," Benson said. "Our guys did what we told them to do. They came out here with great focus. The congrats goes to them because road wins are tough to come by in this conference."
Carson-Newman bounded out of the gates to take an 18-4 lead by the under 16 media timeout. John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) started the game with a triple before three straight fast break buckets – a Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) floater from the middle of the lane, a Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) three and a Trey Hubbard (Charlotte, N.C.) layup – capped the opening surge.
C-N led wire-to-wire – the seventh time this season it has won without trailing.
C-N would relinquish that double-digit lead once. MHU trimmed the deficit to nine following a 9-0 run with 3:52 to go in the first half. However, C=N responded by rattling off a 10-2 run while keeping Mars Hill without points over the final three minutes of the first half. The Eagles carried a 45-28 lead into the halftime lockerroom before building on the advantage for the 27-point road win – the Eagles largest margin of victory away from Holt Fieldhouse this season.
Carson-Newman got to the big bulge in spite of struggling from beyond the arc.
C-N entered the contest number two in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at 44.2 percent. The Eagles finished 10-of-30 from range for the game, but missed 12 straight from deep after a 4-of-8 start. C-N did go 6-of-12 from beyond the arc in the second half. That number rised to 6-of-10 if your exclude the first two shots that C-N missed that were a part of that 12-straight swoon.
"It felt quiet at times because we didn't shoot the ball from distance well." Benson said. "We still made 10 threes an we got great looks, they just weren't falling. We shot the two ball well. Got to the line enough and rebounded well enough so that didn't matter. We didn't shoot the ball well, and that's not great, but we go great looks, so I am happy with that. We have some elite shot makers, and every time they shoot it, I think it's going in."
While the threes weren't falling, C-N was getting up and down in transition. Carson-Newman outscored the Lions 26-4 on the fast break.
C-N shot a high percentage from two as a result. The Eagles were 26-of-38 (68.4 percent) from inside the three-point line. Carson-Newman finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the field. The Eagles especially blistered the nets after halftime, going 19-of-30 from the field (63.3 percent).
"We got in transition a lot tonight," Benson said. "We got stops and then found situations where we were getting penetration and rotation. We passed up some good opportunities for greater opportunities."
Carson-Newman outrebounded its opponent by double-digits for a 15th time this season. C-N owned a 44-33 edge on the glass against the Lions. The Eagles dished out 22 assists on its 36 made baskets for its 11th game this season on the plus side of 20 dimes.
For a fourth time this year, Carson-Newman finished with three players on the plus side of 20 points.
Brenegan led all scorers with 25 points. He was 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-10 from three. Brenegan's efforts from long range moved him past 90 threes made this season, the second most in school history.
Zhao turned in his first career double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass. He also handed out three assists.
"I was pleased with John for his rebounding, but I was also pleased with how he shared the ball late," Benson said. "John has come into his own in a multitude of ways. But his ability to put his rebounding on display is evident. When he is doing that, it makes us a better team."
Coming into this season, Zhao didn't have a game with more than four rebounds. He has 12 games with at least five boards this year.
"Over the summer, CB has preached that I need to get better at rebounding," Zhao said. "I've had some decent games rebounding. Today, I had five points in the first half. I wanted to find other ways to impact the game. I wanted to crash hard and dominate the boards as a way to do that."
Browder rounded out C-N's 20-point scorers. He had 21 points, seven boards and five assists.
Hubbard rounded out C-N's quartet of double-digit scorers. He had 12 points, four boards and five assists.
Caleb Mauldin led Mars Hill with a career-high 23. He surpassed his previous top mark by 10 points.
Kadyn Dawkins added in 19, going 6-of-16 from the field. Marvin Hires had 10 points off the bench for the Lions.
Carson-Newman limited MHU to 40.3 percent shooting for the game.
Carson-Newman returns home for a Saturday to take on Lenoir-Rhyne. Tipoff from Holt Fieldhouse is set for 4 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 3:45 p.m. with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available through FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMbb.
