Defensively dominant Eagles take wire-to-wire win over Bears
December 1, 2021

Defensively dominant Eagles take wire-to-wire win over Bears

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-3, 2-2 South Atlantic Conference) limited Lenoir-Rhyne (3-4, 2-2 SAC) to 37.9 percent shooting and out-rebounded the Bears by 15 in a defensive rock fight Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Bryant Thomas Interview

VIDEO: Joshuwa Butts Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-3, 2-2 South Atlantic Conference) limited Lenoir-Rhyne (3-4, 2-2 SAC) to 37.9 percent shooting and out-rebounded the Bears by 15 in a defensive rock fight Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.

Carson-Newman prevailed 72-57 for a third straight win in the series with the Bears and on the season.  The Eagles have won 10 of their last 11 games inside Holt Fieldhouse over L-R. 

"On so many levels, their identity is tied to their offense," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "We have tried to re-establish our identity as a defensive team. We challenged our guys to commit to a 40-minute defensive game.  They responded to that on multiple levels.  When you start looking at the individual parts, it gets impressive. We defended actions well.  we defended transition shots. Defensive rebounding was off the charts. We played without fouling. There were so many elements that were done at a high level. That's hard to do when you start distilling it down to the most basic elements, our guys did so many of them very well."

Carson-Newman bounded out of the gates on a 12-2 run on the back of four straight made threes. Bryant Thomas (Charlotte, N.C.) canned a pair alternating with long-distance dedications from Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) and Caleb Bridgewater (Charlotte, N.C.) to give Carson-Newman a 10-point lead just over three-minutes into the game.

However, the Eagles went cold.  Carson-Newman went six minutes between buckets, but never surrendered the lead to the Bears in what ended up as C-N's second wire-to-wire win of the season. 

It was C-N's offense that put things away late in the second half.  C-N came out of the gates after halftime still mired in the offensive doldrums. The Eagles only made two of their first 10 shots. Meanwhile, the Bears got the Eagles six-point halftime lead down to on a TJ Nesmith fast break bucket with 16:52 to play. 

 

However, the Bears were icy at the same time. Lenori-Rhyne went four minutes before its next field goal as Carson-Newman's offense got on track. 

C-N would make 14 of its last 17 shots from the field to outscore the Bears 36-22 down the stretch.  A 9-0 burst capped by a Bridgewater corner three stretched C-N's lead back to double-digits – 53-42 with 9:50 to play, before Joshuwa Butts (Fairbur, Ga.) went to work down low with three straight hook shots to spark an 11-0 with under five minutes to play to put the game to bed. 

"We knew we were in the bonus and the best way to get to the line is to continue to attack the rim," Benson said. "Our guys were posting aggressively, and our guys were feeding it inside aggressively. We also got it in off the bounce. They did a great job with our ball screen action. We knew as long as we kept going in we'd either get a layup, free throws or kickout threes.  The flip of that is we got stops on eight of the last 10 possessions, which was critical."

With the exception of Bridgewater's three, 37 of Carson-Newman's 40 second half points were scored either in the paint, or at the free throw line.  Carson-Newman only had six points in the paint at the break, but had 30 inside after halftime. 

While, the offensive eventually arrive in a major way late, Carson-Newman's rebounding was prevalent throughout. The Eagles finished with a 42-27 rebounding margin and limited Lenoir-Rhyne to just three offensive boards. The Bears didn't score any second chance points in spite of shooting 37.9 percent from the field. 

"They were willing to surrender offensive rebounding for defensive transition," Benson said. "Generally speaking, our guys were locked in and prepared to do a great job on the glass. What I liked is that we got nine offensive rebounds ourselves and it was spread out among a number of guys.  Our fours and fives did a good job of gaining extra possessions for us. The margin is a bit deceptive because our respective strategies played into it."

The three offensive boards are the fewest by a Carson-Newman opponent since Catawba had one on Feb. 6, 2021.  It's also the first time the Eagles outrebounded a foe by 15 since Feb. 3, 2021 when it had a 40-21 rebound advantage over Anderson. 

"We started off main pointing defensive rebounding," Thomas said. "It started there and that fueled our offense. We emphasized moving and sharing the ball.  The points were going to stick eventually after finding each other."

Thomas guided Carson-Newman with his second career double-double. He finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting.  He also dished out three assists and had two blocks.

"Bryant's reputation at this point is preceding his performances," Benson said. "We have a certified shot-blocking rim-protector. That's an extra benefit that he's getting right now."

EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) turned in a 12-point game, scoring eight after halftime.  Bush was 5-for-10 from the field. 

Bridgewater rounded out C-N's double-digit scorers with a career night. He scored 11 points, his first double-digit outing and added in a career-best six rebounds in his second career start. 

Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) got to within 22 points of 1,000 for his career with a six-point, five-rebound, five-assist, three-steal night. 

The Bears were a two-man show for much of the night. Nesmith reset his career high with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting off the bench to lead all scorers.  Kevin Kangu added in 17, including a 5-of-9 effort from long range. 

The Eagles slowed down the Bears leading scorer. Jalen Johnson entered the game with a double-digit scoring effort in every game of the year, and a 34-point night against Young Harris. He finished with eight points on 3-of-7 shooting – a season-low. 

Carson-Newman's 57 points allowed and 37.9 field goal percentage allowed go down as season-best for the Eagles' defense. 

The Eagles wrap up a five-game home stand Saturday against Anderson. Tipoff with the Trojans is set for 4:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. 

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