Eagles take over second place in SAC with second half defense versus Anderson
February 20, 2014

Eagles take over second place in SAC with second half defense versus Anderson

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (17-6, 14-5 South Atlantic Conference) held Anderson (18-7, 13-6 SAC) 11 minutes without a field goal in the second half en route to mounting an insurmountable 21-point deficit in an 87-79 home victory over the Trojans Wednesday night.

Chuck Benson Interview

Carson Brooks Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (17-6, 14-5 South Atlantic Conference) held Anderson (18-7, 13-6 SAC) 11 minutes without a field goal in the second half en route to mounting an insurmountable 21-point deficit in an 87-79 home victory over the Trojans Wednesday night. 

The win gives the Eagles sole possession of second place in the South Atlantic Conference standings.  Carson-Newman entered the game ninth in the region rankings that came out four hours prior to tipoff. The Trojans were ranked fifth. 

The Trojans started the second half by hitting just one of their first 11 shots while the Eagles used a 12-3 run and a 14-1 spurt to take a 21-point lead with eight minutes to play after leading by two at the half.    

"Our guys did a great job of finding where Anderson's primary scorers were," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said following his 200th career victory. "And we were fortunate tonight too. Anderson is such a high powered offensive team with an excellent offensive scheme and they just didn't hit shots tonight."

Antoine Davis (Rustburg, Va.)turned in his fifth career 20-point game on the Trojans and his third consecutive with more than 25 points to lead all scorers. 

Ish Sanders dropped 19 to move past the 1,800-point plateau for his career. With his scoring effort he passed Kyle Moore of Tusculum for seventh place on the South Atlantic Conference's all-time scoring list. Sanders has 1,814 points in his Carson-Newman career. 

Carson Brooks (Knoxville, Tenn.) produced his first career double-double with 10 points and a career high 13 boards.  Sawyer Williams (Owenton, Ky.) scored double digits for a third consecutive night. 

The Eagles held the nation's fourth leading scorer Chandler Hash to seven points through the half.  Carson-Newman then kept him off the scoresheet for the second half until the 3:46 mark when he buried four threes on five possessions to bring the Trojans within single digits and force C-N to hit free throws to ice the game. 

"Our guys stayed focused on executing our plan with purpose," Benson said. "I did think we got a little tentative and allowed them to climb back into the thing, but credit goes to Anderson too for making a point to get something across and try to make a comeback."

The Eagles shot 56 percent for the game while holding the Trojans to 38 percent shooting. The Eagles outscored the Trojans 42-18 in the paint – largely owing to the prowess of Brooks and Williams inside.

"Those guys keep getting better and better," Benson said. "I had some conversations with Carson coming in to this game and I'm really proud of him for how good a job he's done at being effective here of late."  

The Eagles close out their regular season home slate Saturday against Queens. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network hits at 3:45 on 106.3 ESPN Radio The Zone and online at cneagles.com/live.

-CN-

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