January 17, 2011

Eagles survive late Lenoir-Rhyne rally to claim 60-58 victory

HICKORY, N.C. — The Carson-Newman men's basketball team held off a late rally by Lenoir-Rhyne to claim a 60-58 victory on Monday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference action at Shuford Gymnasium.

The Eagles led 50-38 with 8:35 remaining, but the Bears stormed back to pull to within 55-53 at the 1:41 mark on a 3-pointer by R.J. McClure (Canton, N.C.). However, C-N pushed its lead back to five points after a made free throw by Bradley Tumer (Mt. Dora, Fla.) and two made free throws by Kevin Hare (Lexington, S.C.), and a last-second defensive stop sealed the win.

With the victory, C-N improves to 6-8 on the season and 3-3 in the conference. The Bears fall to 2-12 overall and 1-5 in SAC play. The win was C-N's first at Lenoir-Rhyne since Feb. 18, 2004 and it also gave the Eagles back-to-back conference wins for the first time since Feb. 2008.

The Eagles shot 39.1 percent from the floor (18-of-46), including a 9-of-21 effort from behind the arc, while Lenoir-Rhyne shot 38.3 percent on the day (23-of-60). The Bears were just 3-of-16 from 3-point range.

Junior guard Antonio Sullivan (Louisville, Ky.) tossed in 18 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead C-N. Sullivan has reached double figures in seven straight games and has made at least three 3-pointers in six straight contests. Sophomore forward Joe Meady (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) added a career-high 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, while John Holleman (Petersburg, Va.), Hare, Ishmael Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Tumer chipped in six points apiece.

Allan Jones (Clemmons, N.C.) fired in a game-high 23 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to pace Lenoir-Rhyne, while Bryce Hawkins (Charlotte, N.C.) also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Jeff Thomas (Chapel Hill, N.C.) finished with 10 points in the loss.

The Eagles struggled early in the first half, hitting on just one of their first seven shot attempts as the Bears built an 11-6 lead with 13:24 left.

But Sanders sparked a 13-6 C-N run with a 3-pointer, and Tumer capped it off by sinking two free throws to give the Eagles a 19-17 lead at the 6:44 mark.

After Lenoir-Rhyne tied the contest at 19-19 on a layup by Jones, Sullivan drained a 3-pointer for the Eagles, as they closed out the half on an 11-4 run to take a 30-23 lead into the locker room.

C-N led despite shooting just 30.8 percent for the half. The Eagles made up for their shooting woes by dominating the boards as they outrebounded the Bears 22-13, including eight offensive rebounds that led to 15 second-chance points.

The Eagles quickly pushed their lead to 36-25 on a 3-pointer by Sullivan at the 18:44 mark of the second half. However, Lenoir-Rhyne answered with a 9-0 run capped off by a layup by Jon Hathcock (Concord, N.C.) with 14:11 remaining to trim C-N's lead to 36-34.

A dunk by Meady then sparked a 9-0 run by the Eagles, and Sullivan capped it off by drilling a deep 3-pointer to give C-N a 45-34 advantage with 11:25 left.

C-N pushed its lead to 50-38 before Lenoir-Rhyne's 17-3 run trimmed the Eagles' lead down to 55-53 with 1:41 remaining, but the Bears were unable to pull any closer.

The Eagles return to action on Wednesday at Mars Hill. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.