Eagles drop two overtime thriller at Newberry, 106-105
NEWBERRY, S.C. - Newberry College's Tony Davis scored a career-high 38 points as the Wolves held off a hot-shooting Carson-Newman Eagles squad for an exciting 106-105 double overtime win in Eleazer Arena on Saturday evening.
NEWBERRY, S.C. - Newberry College's Tony Davis scored a career-high 38 points as the Wolves held off a hot-shooting Carson-Newman Eagles squad for an exciting 106-105 double overtime win in Eleazer Arena on Saturday evening.
Davis added 13 rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals in one of the best performances by a Newberry player in 28 years. His 38 points is the highest single game total by a Newberry player since Mark Duren scored 41 points against Wofford on Feb. 14, 1983.
Newberry (12-12 overall, 7-9 SAC) shot 45.7% (37-of-81) from the field in the victory. Matt Dixon (Elizabeth City, N.C.) scored 22 points, while Brandon Riley (Baltimore, Md.) added 15 and Chris Reynolds (Augusta, Ga.) scored 11. Jawuan Lockhart (Washington, D.C.) dished out a career high 11 assists to his teammate.
Carson-Newman (11-13, 8-8 SAC) had no shortage of impressive performances as well, as Bradley Tumer set a South Atlantic Conference record with 19 assists, breaking the previous record of 15 which was shared by three players including Newberry and SAC Hall of Famer Brandon Hughes.
Ishmael Sanders led six Eagles in double digits with 22 points, just one game after setting the SAC scoring record. Antonio Sullivan scored 18, John Holleman had 17, Erwin Staten netted 11 and Brandon Evans and Kevin Hare had 10 apiece. The Eagles shot 50.7% (38-of-75) in the game, including a blistering 10-of-11 (90.9%) in the overtime periods and making a total of 18 three-pointers.
The contest was tightly played from start to finish, as neither team ever held a double-digit lead at any point. There were 21 lead changes and 11 ties in the game.
The largest lead of the first half was a seven-point Carson-Newman edge with 3:53 left in the half when Staten's three-pointer made it 36-29, but Newberry went on a 10-2 run to take a lead just before the half. Evans netted a layup with under seven seconds to go to give Carson-Newman a 40-39 halftime edge.
Carson-Newman took its largest lead of the game with 13:51 remaining in regulation on a Holleman dunk. Newberry responded with another 10-2 surge capped by a three-pointer from Brunes Charles (Naples, Fla.) to tie the game at 54-all with 11:34 left in the half.
The Eagles regained the lead and didn't relinquish it until a Dixon three-pointer with 5:13 to go gave Newberry a 69-66 advantage. The Wolves held onto the lead until the dying seconds of the game. Newberry led 77-71 with 37 seconds left, but Holleman and Sullivan nailed three-pointers in succession to tie the game and a Lockhart layup attempt just before time expired was no good, sending the game into the extra period.
Newberry made the most of free throws and three-pointers in the first time, somehow forcing the second overtime although the Eagles didn't miss a single field goal attempt in the first five minutes. Dixon nailed two triples in the first overtime for Newberry.
With 3:31 remaining in the second overtime, the Eagles held a five-point lead, but a Reynolds three-pointer followed by a three-point play from Davis swung the momentum and the lead into the Wolves' favor. However, with as little as 55 seconds left, the Eagles still led by one. Patrick Ryan (Orlando, Fla.) missed a layup with 45 seconds left which was put back by Davis to give Newberry the lead. Carson-Newman came down the floor and Sanders missed a three-pointer, marking the only field goal attempt the Eagles missed in the overtime periods. Newberry was able to wind the clock down, and despite two missed free throws from Charles, Kevin Leatherwood was not able to get a potential game-winning shot off in time, giving Newberry the win.
Newberry shot a solid 60.0% (9-of-15) in the overtimes and made eight free throws compared to the Eagles' five. Eight of Newberry's points in the extra frames come off of offensive rebounds and Davis had 13 of his points in the overtimes.
The Eagles return to action on Wednesday at Lincoln Memorial. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
