Eagles lose last-second heartbreaker at Anderson
January 29, 2014

Eagles lose last-second heartbreaker at Anderson

ANDERSON, S.C. - Myson Jones hit a 17-foot jumper with .9 seconds left to help Anderson (14-5, 9-6 South Atlantic Conference) to a last-second 83-81 victory over Carson-Newman (11-6, 8-5 SAC) Wednesday night at the Abney Athletic Center.

Chuck Benson postgame interview

ANDERSON, S.C. -  Myson Jones hit a 17-foot jumper with .9 seconds left to help Anderson (14-5, 9-6 South Atlantic Conference) to a last-second 83-81 victory over Carson-Newman (11-6, 8-5 SAC) Wednesday night at the Abney Athletic Center. 

"Our kids are heartbroken; there are a lot of tears flowing right now," Carson-Newman head coach Chuck Benson said. "We often talk about performance and processes. I thought I performance was very admirable and more often than not, this performance will give you more wins than losses." 

Ish Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) became the South Atlantic Conference's all-time leader in made threes in a career.  He passed Tusculum's Kyle Moore with his second trey of the day. Sanders now has 308 for his career, Moore sits in the rearview mirror with 306. 

It was Sanders who tied the game with 20 seconds left.  The final minute of the game matched the intensity of the first 39 minutes of the contest. 

The Eagles and Trojans were tied 13 times and swapped leads on 18 occasions in a game that featured 12 runs of at least 5-0 or longer for either team. 

Anderson grabbed the lead for the 18th change with 41 seconds left.  Chandler Hash, the Trojans leading scored dived to the right block where he nailed a fall-away bank shot from four feet over Josh Rogers (Bristol, United Kingdom).  Rogers was called for a foul and Hash made it a two-point game, 80-78 after he converted on the and-one opportunity. 

The Eagles turned it over on their ensuing possession when Carson Brooks (Knoxville, Tenn.) saw an entry pass go through his hands and out of bounds on the right block. 

C-N fouled on the end bounds where Nick Jackson, an infrequently used junior guard for the Trojans, made one-of-two foul shots in his first trip to the line for the year. 

Down three, the Eagles raced frontcourt where Sanders buried his third trey of the game from the right corner with 20 seconds left. 

Unfortunately for the Eagles, that only set the stage for Jones' heroics. 

Jones milked the clock to five before he headed right around a screen at the head of the key, worked a step inside the three-point arc and drilled the game-winner to send C-N to its third consecutive road loss. 

"The credit has to go to them," Benson said. "They just set a simple ball screen, and Jared was so cognizant of containing the ball because we didn't want them to get to the line.  He gives him a little space and Jones hits a dribble, pull-up 17-foot jumper.  If you think of what shot do you want your opponent to take, that's it.  That's a 17-foot pull up jumper,. Kid hit a tough, contested shot." 

Antoine Davis (Rustburg, Va.) finished with 29 points to lead all scorer. C-N's senior forward was 11-for-17 from the field.  He also pulled down eight boards.

Sanders finished with 15, but was four-of-15 from the field and three-of-12 from deep.  Jared Johnson (Springfield, Mass.) added 12, while Brooks ended with 10.  Johnson also contributed seven assists, six rebounds and five steals to round out his stat-sheet stuffing. 

The Trojans also finished with four players in double figures. Hash led the way with 22.  CJ Gleaton, Jones and Jackson had 19, 16 and 13, respectively. 

"Rebounding emotionally starts with me," Benson said. "I loved their performance and the only thing that would have made it sweeter is a win. They did all the processes right tonight.  But give credit to Anderson, they had the firepower to make some huge plays tonight."

C-N heads to Catawba for its third road game in four contests Saturday.  Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m.; pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 on 106.3 ESPN Radio The Zone (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.  

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