Bilbrey, Ilic and Houck combine for 66, C-N slashes by Bobcats
November 16, 2025

Bilbrey, Ilic and Houck combine for 66, C-N slashes by Bobcats

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The triumvirate of Rylan Houck (Oxford, Ala.), Braden Ilic (Morristown, Tenn.) and Matt Bilbrey (Crossville, Tenn.) combined for 66 points and Carson-Newman (2-0) used a late second half run to take a 98-79 decision from Lees-McRae (0-2) Sunday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse.   

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Rylan Houck Interview

VIDEO: Braden Ilic Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The triumvirate of Rylan Houck (Oxford, Ala.), Braden Ilic (Morristown, Tenn.) and Matt Bilbrey (Crossville, Tenn.) combined for 66 points and Carson-Newman (2-0) used a late second half run to take a 98-79 decision from Lees-McRae (0-2) Sunday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse.   

Houck and Bilbrey both reset their career highs with 25 and 20-point efforts, respectively. Ilic produced his fourth career 20-point game. 

"We knew that Lees-McRae was going to bring a determined effort," head coach Chuck Benson said. "The 19-point win isn't a testament to the game. I thought they were relentless. They were tough and physical in the halfcourt. It got tight midway through the second, but we had six or seven good defensive possessions and were able to take control. This was an overall good back-to-back response." 

The Eagles led wire-to-wire for a second straight game. 

Carson-Newman bounded out of the gates and had an 11-point lead in the first four minutes.  However Lees-McRae settled in and kept things relatively close.  Carson-Newman led 54-44 at the break.

The Bobcats had knocked the lead down to seven, 77-70 with under eight minutes to play in the second half after a Justin Bramao paint jumper.  However, the Eagles exited the under eight media timeout and caught fire. 

C-N made five straight buckets, while the Bobcats went three minutes without a bucket. The Eagles rattled off a 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 17 - 87-70 after a Bilbrey triple with 4:16 to go.  Fastbreak buckets for Houck and Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) helped jump start the run. 

"After last night where our defense was outstanding, I wondered how we would respond to prosperity," Benson said. "I felt we were a little fat, sassy and happy.  I was begging and pushing for a greater level of defensive play.  Thank goodness it came together at the under-eight media.  We got that nice separation we needed to finalize it." 

Houck's 25 was hyper-efficient.  He was 10-of-11 from the field and drilled his only three.  He was also 4-of-5 from the stripe.  He snagged seven boards and dished out two assists

"Rylan we knew if we got him on the floor, he would find a degree of comfortability," Benson said. "Good gracious, his numbers were phenomenal. His confidence is booming. He likes the fact he's in a situation where he's trusted and valued." 

Ilic stuffed the stat sheet, complementing his 21 points with seven assists and five boards.  Bilbrey canned 4-of-8 threes and was 8-of-13 from the field.  He dished out three assists. 

Colin Brown (Bristol, Tenn.) and Oli Smith (Sydney, Australia) rounded out the Eagles double-digit scorers.  Brown matched the 11 that he had in his debut Saturday, while Smith had 10, seven of which came after halftime. 

Absent from the double-digits list was Browder. He scored seven, snapping an 11-game streak of double-digit efforts, in battling foul trouble, but led C-N with nine boards. 

"Jack picked up some foul trouble in the first half," Benson said. "He sat the half and understood philosophically what we do and had a great attitude about it.  He was engaged and added value on the bench as another coach. The second half, he understood that Lees was trying to take him out.  So he let other guys play in a way that enabled us to exploit what they were doing defensively.  He didn't have an off night, he had a different kind of night." 

Isajah Deburgo paced Lees-McRae with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Dwight Canady added 15 while going 4-of-12 from the field. He was 3-of-6 from deep.  Bramao and Chase McDuffie followed with 12 and 10, respectively. 

Carson-Newman shot 54.7 percent from the field, and went 11-of-26 from distance (42.3 percent). The Eagles also connected on 17-of-21 free throws. 

Meanwhile, C-N limited LMC to 43.9 percent shooting. The Bobcats were 27.8 percent from beyond the arc, going 5-of-18. 

The Eagles owned a 41-32 edge on the glass and dished out 21 assists on 35 made baskets. 

Carson-Newman plays on the road for the first time all year when it heads to Lander Saturday.  Tipoff from Finis Horne Arena is at 2 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 1:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. 

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