No. 18 Trojans smash glass, stay perfect 94-80 over C-N
December 13, 2025

No. 18 Trojans smash glass, stay perfect 94-80 over C-N

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 18 Anderson (8-0, 3-0 South Atlantic Conference) outrebounded Carson-Newman (6-2, 2-1 SAC) by 12 after halftime and outscored C-N 25-13 in second chance points to tally a 94-80 win over the Eagles Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse. 

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Jack Browder Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 18 Anderson (8-0, 3-0 South Atlantic Conference) outrebounded Carson-Newman (6-2, 2-1 SAC) by 12 after halftime and outscored C-N 25-13 in second chance points to tally a 94-80 win over the Eagles Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse. 

The Trojans snap a four-game losing streak to C-N while standing pat as one of 13 unbeaten teams in NCAA Division II. 

Anderson became the second team to outrebound Carson-Newman this season, doing so 43-34. The Eagles are 0-2 in such games.

"Give them credit," head coach Chuck Benson said. "We take the lead on a Bilbrey jumper in the second half. I just knew this was going to be a dog fight the rest of the way. We were up on the boards at the break and then came out and just crucified us on the glass. That is where I do think missing Braden would have been a benefit. And that was a difference for them. I need to take a closer look at our focus when it comes to rebounding. If you boil it down to one single thing, they kicked our face in on the glass." 

Carson-Newman was playing without the services of starting five man Braden Ilic (Morristown, Tenn.). Oli Smith (Sydney, Australia) logged his first career start in his stead. 

With a smaller lineup in, Anderson outscored C-N 52-34 in the paint.  The Trojans are the second team to outscore C-N in the paint this season.  They are the first to do so by more than 15 points since a 103-97 win at Coker on Jan. 3, 2025.

"Braden Ilic being out has nothing to do with how qualified Anderson is," Benson said. "I was impressed with them on video, and I was impressed with them in person on both sides of the ball. They tried to overwhelm us at the basket.  On the flip of it, defensively, they made it tough. Jack was inefficient.  Credit to Anderson. They are clearly a top-20 team and have the talent to be where we were last year offensively. It's not a fluke, they are legit."

Anderson led by four at the break, 47-43, but stretched the lead to 10 shortly after halftime. Carson-Newman switched from a man defense to its matchup zone, held Anderson without a bucket for 2:45 and rattled off an 11-0 run to grab a 63-62 lead with 13:52 to go following a Matt Bilbrey (Crossville, Tenn.) triple. 

It marked the first time Anderson had trailed in the second half all season. Unfortunately for C-N, it wouldn't last. 

After a 7-of-11 start from the field after halftime, Carson-Newman would finish 3-of-17 from the field over the final 13 minutes of the game. 

The Trojans outscored C-N 16-4 over the next seven minutes to get up 12.  The lead would not dip into single digits the rest of the way. 

The 14-point margin is tied for the closest game Anderson has played this season. The Trojans own the country's second-largest average margin of victory. 

The pathway to Anderson's win was different compared to its other games. 

The Trojans entered the contest leading NCAA Division II with 13.8 threes per game.  Anderson went 9-of-23 from deep, its second-lowest three-point shooting outing of the season. 

C-N kept Anderson's leading scorer Rashawn Inglemon to 14 points.  Averaging 4.2 threes per game, he was 2-for-7 from deep. 

"We had an objective to impact their three," Benson said. "They were five threes below their average, and a couple of those makes were off of controllable mistakes on our end. The way we defended the long shot I was pretty pleased with.  I thought Bilbrey did a nice job locking in on making it difficult on Rashawn Inglemon.  It was other things that exposed us today, namely rebounding."

Osmar Garcia-Araujo reset his career high with 34 points. He also had a career high 12 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass, six offensive boards came after halftime.  Garcia-Araujo was 13-of-20 from the floor.  Anderson scored points off all eight of his offensive rebounds, the Garcia-Araujo being responsible for the make after seven of those. 

Caleb McAbee was Anderson's only other double-digit scorer. He had 10. 

Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) paced Carson-Newman with his 29th career double-double.  He had 22 points and 10 rebounds, including a career-best six offensive rebounds.  However, Browder was just 6-of-16 from the field and 0-for-3 from deep. He did make all 10 of his free throw attempts to become the first Eagle to go 10-for-10 at the line since Tripp Davis at Catawba on Feb. 13, 2021. 

With the 10 boards, Browder gets to 702 rebounds for his career.  He joins All-Americans and Hall of Famers Mike Ogan and Tommy Everette as the only three players in program history with 1,500 career points and 700 career rebounds.

Matt Bilbrey turned in his third consecutive 20-point performance, finishing with 21 points. He was 8-of-17 from the field and 3-of-8 from range.  Bilbrey also had four steals and a team-high three assists. 

Carson-Newman got career-best performances from two freshmen off the bench.  Colin Brown (Bristol, Tenn.) had 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting.  Aivaras Uosis (Dingle, Ireland) talled 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting in a career-high 19 minutes.  Uosis also had six boards. 

"Our three guys off the bench were all freshmen," Benson said. "Colin dealt with Anderson's pressure and speed very well. I have even more confidence in him. Aivaras hasn't had the chance to play yet this year, and has done nothing wrong. We philosophically believe in an eight-man rotation. With Braden being out, we felt the combination of him, Stamper and Keliese was our best option.  You can't argue with his aggression and toughness. Those two guys today got better." 

Carson-Newman finished the game shooting 41.7 percent from the field.  The Eagles were 5-of-21 from deep (23.8 percent). 

Anderson fired in 50.7 percent of its shots. 

Carson-Newman kept things reasonably close by knocking down 25-of-30 free throws – the first time the Eagles have made 25 freebies in a game since Jan. 23, 2025 at Mars Hill. 

C-N takes on another team under consideration in the NABC Coaches Poll Wednesday.  UVA Wise, receiving votes in the poll, arrives in Holt Fieldhouse for a 7:30 p.m. Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:185 with the AEC Countdown to Tipiff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMBB.  Fans can also go "On Press Row" with a view of the broadcast crew on YouTube. 

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