Benson nets career win 400, C-N takes defensive slobber knocker from Augusta
November 29, 2025

Benson nets career win 400, C-N takes defensive slobber knocker from Augusta

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-1) head coach Chuck Benson logged his 400th career victory as a head coach as C-N dominated defensively in a 66-58 triumph over Augusta (3-5) Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse. 

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Braden Ilic Interview

VIDEO: Oli Smith Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-1) head coach Chuck Benson logged his 400th career victory as a head coach as C-N dominated defensively in a 66-58 triumph over Augusta (3-5) Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse. 

Benson is one of two active coaches in the SAC with 400 career victories. Wingate's Brian Good is the other. 

"I'm obviously elated we got a much-needed win over Augusta and my friend Dip Metress, who I have nothing but respect for who he is and what he's done there," Benson said. "Let's start there.  But beyond that, to get to win 400, there's a lot of people involved in that. A lot of players, a lot of assistant coaches, a lot of administrations – so many have been a part of that. It's a team accomplishment; I just happen to be the one to be the head coach who gets the primary recognition. The reality is that I am so thankful and so blessed to be in a situation where so many players and coaches add value to help us win a lot more than we lose." 

The path for win 400 was marked by incredible defense. C-N held Augusta to 29.1 percent shooting after halftime and to 33.3 percent for the game.  The defense was necessary as C-N shot a season-low 39.7 percent from the field. 

Meanwhile, senior forward Braden Ilic (Morristown, Tenn.) reset the Carson-Newman and South Atlantic Conference's single-game block record with 10.  Carson-Newman had 11 blocks as a team to tie the program's single-game record. 

"He was incredible," Benson said. "To watch him lock in, he forces a good player in Louis Nonfon into a 3-of-11 night. That goes back to Braden's on-ball defense. He took Nonfon's best punch and he's a bull in there.  Braden took shot after shot to the chest and built great walls.  He had some help blocks too. Good for us and great for Braden." 

Carson-Newman trailed by nine early after Augusta connected on 7-of-11 shots to open the game. The Jags rattled off a 10-0 run to take control early with 13:15 to go in the first half.  However, C-N's defense took hold. Augusta made one of its next 11 shot attempts over the next eight minutes and C-N used an 11-0 run to take its first lead with 5:34 to go in the half on a Rylan Houck (Oxford, Ala.) layup. 

Augusta entered the halftime locker room with a 34-32 lead after closing the first half on a 6-0 run.  The teams were tied four times and had swapped leads 11 times before C-N seized control in the second half. 

Augusta led 48-42 with 11:10 to go following a Nonfon layup.  The Jags would make one field goal over the next eight minutes while C-N rattled off a 20-3 run.  A Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) and-one followed by a Browder dunk gave C-N a six-point lead with 5:51 to go before Browder ballooned the lead to double-digits two minutes later with a cutting layup – 62-51.

"Our offense was missing tonight," Benson said. "We were a blustery 13 percent from deep.  If we were going to count on just outscoring someone tonight, that wasn't going to be good enough.  As we finish non-conference play, our guys understand that when this team defends, we give ourselves a chance to win on any given night.  Our zone found itself in the second half, and I thought some guys showed some instinctual play within it that gave us some nice run outs." 

Carson-Newman shot just 3-of-22 from deep, a season-low, and was a paltry 1-of-8 from long range after halftime. 

The Eagles went through three separate field goal droughts of three minutes or longer, including a 3:53 field goal draught to close the game.  C-N missed four shots consecutively or greater on four occasions.  Carson-Newman finished the game shooting 39.7 percent, its first win with below 40 percent shooting since beating Coker 71-70 on a 39.0 percent shooting night on Feb. 25, 2023.

"It doesn't shake my confidence, they just weren't falling," Benson said. "We were playing a hungry, scrappy team  that took a nothing-to-lose approach.  When we can win and have this poor of an offensive performance, that does say a lot about our defense." 

Conversely, Augusta made just 21-of-63 shots.  The Jaguars went 8-of-21 from deep, but were just 1-of-7 from range in the second half.  Against Carson-Newman's staunch rim protection, the Jaguars were 13-of-42 (30.9 percent) from inside the three-point arc. 

The Eagles outscored the Jags in the paint 36-14.

C-N limited the reigning PBC Player of the Week Elias Palsson to 6-of-19 shooting and 18 points. He also had seven turnovers.  He was one of three Jaguar double-digit scorers.  Tobias Prall and Charlie McBeath both had 11 points. 

"The first half we were being reactive instead of proactive with our defense," Benson said. "We found it the second half, and that benefitted us in trying to guard a guy like Palsson. Braden's effort in the middle complemented that." 

Browder led C-N's scoring effort with 26 points. He was 8-of-19 from the field and 8-of-9 at the stripe. He also snagged seven boards.

Browder moved past Jerry Cannon, Scott Mills and Kyle Gribble to leap to 13th on C-N's all-time scoring list.  He has 1,477 points in his career. 

Oli Smith (Sydney, Australia) and Houck rounded out the Eagles' double-digit scorers.  Smith had 11 points to go with eight boards.  Houck finished with 10 points and six rebounds. 

Carson-Newman breaks for a week before opening SAC play Saturday at Coker.  Tipoff with the Cobras is set for 4 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A live camera of the broadcast crew "On Press Row" will also be available on YouTube.

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