Leatherwood’s career night leads Eagles past Brevard, 81-72
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman’s Kevin Leatherwood (Charlottesville, Va.) scored a career high 22 points, including the first bucket on a decisive 10-0 run in the second half, as the Eagles beat visiting Brevard College, 81-72, Wednesday night in Holt Fieldhouse.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's Kevin Leatherwood (Charlottesville, Va.) scored a career high 22 points, including the first bucket on a decisive 10-0 run in the second half, as the Eagles beat visiting Brevard College, 81-72, Wednesday night in Holt Fieldhouse.
With the win, Carson-Newman improves to 9-10 overall and 6-5 in South Atlantic Conference play, while Brevard falls to 8-9 and 5-6 in SAC play
The freshman guard's layup with 9:53 left to play gave the Eagles a 54-53 lead and sparked the game's deciding run as the Eagles reeled off ten-straight points to build a 62-53 lead.
Drew Schauss scored 13 points in the first half and Josh Jordan recorded his second straight double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down a career-high 18 rebounds, to lead the Tornadoes.
Three Tornados (8-9, 5-6 SAC) scored 16 points in the contest as Schauss, Gaither Hendrix and Jordan all achieved that mark for Brevard as the Tornados shot 37.0 percent (27-73) from the floor in the contest. Jordan contributed six steals as the BC defense forced 18 turnovers in the game and Josh Roper added a pair of blocked shots as the Tornados fell in conference play.
Leatherwood put the Eagles (9-10, 6-5 SAC) on the board first on his way to a game-high 22 points, while Ishmael Sanders scored 18 points off the bench for Carson-Newman, hitting three three-pointers in the game. John Holleman added a 14 point, 11 rebound double-double, as well as contributing six assists as the Eagles completed the season sweep against the Tornados, having won the first game of the series on January 5th, 96-89 in Boshamer Gymnasium.
Leatherwood posted up Hendrix in the paint and put in the first basket of the game with 19:22 on the clock as the Eagles held the early advantage. The Tornados battled back to take the lead at 11-10 on a jumper by Schauss as the sophomore guard scored eight of Brevard's first 11 points of the contest, to take the lead at the 16:45 mark.
Brevard built their largest lead of the first half at 16-12 as Jermichael Tanner drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key and Schauss hit a short jumper in the paint at the 14:02 mark to give Brevard the four-point advantage. The Eagles battled back, taking the lead on a three-pointer from Holleman as the 6-8 junior stepped back behind the arc to put the score at 17-16 with 12:36 to play in the opening period.
The Tornados tied it up on a Hendrix free throw, putting the score at 17 apiece, but the Eagles would go on to build their largest lead of the half at eight points at 30-22 on a jumper by Kevin Hare at the 7:32 mark. The Tornados used a late 5-0 run at the end of the half to cut the score back to within three as Schauss canned a trey and Tanner hit a pair of free throws, but Carson-Newman went into the break up 39-36.
Leatherwood again posted up and was fouled, putting the Eagles up 41-36 at the beginning of the second half, but the Tornados battled back again, eventually taking the lead at 45-44 as Hendrix hit a three-pointer with the shot clock expiring to give Brevard the advantage.
The score would be tied three times in the next four minutes and the lead would switch hands eight times in the second half until Carson-Newman took control for good, starting at the 9:53 mark as Leatherwood again went in for the layup. Erwin Staten would hit a three-pointer on the next Eagles' possession to push the lead to four as Carson-Newman went up as many as 10 points after a three-pointer by Leatherwood at 69-59 with 5:17 to play.
The Tornados gave it one last effort, cutting the score down to within five points with 39 seconds left in the contest on a Jordan rebound and lay-in, but the Sanders put the game away from the free throw line, going three of four from the charity stripe in the final 35 seconds as the Eagles defended the Holt Fieldhouse, 81-72.
Carson-Newman travels to Wingate, N.C. on Saturday to face Wingate University. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. in Cuddy Arena.
