Eagles look for season sweep of Mars Hill
January 7, 2014

Eagles look for season sweep of Mars Hill

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (7-3, 4-2 South Atlantic Conference) angles for its fourth consecutive victory over Mars Hill (2-9, 0-6 SAC) when the Lions invade Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday for their second meeting of the season at 8 p.m.

C-N Game Notes 

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (7-3, 4-2 South Atlantic Conference) angles for its fourth consecutive victory over Mars Hill (2-9, 0-6 SAC) when the Lions invade Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday for their second meeting of the season at 8 p.m.

Carson-Newman has dominated the series with Mars Hill of late. The Eagles are owners of back-to-back wins and have taken six of the last seven meetings with the Lions (including this year's 90-84 win on Nov. 24). In addition, the Eagles have put up fiendish offensive numbers, scoring at least 90 points in six of the last seven contests as well.

"We were fortunate to get a win there earlier this year," C-N head coach Chuck Benson said. "I think we're better now than we were then thanks to our understanding of our scheme and a renewed sense of urgency and focus."

Ish Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) has been particularly effective lifetime against the Lions. In seven career games versus MHU, Sanders averages 26 points per game. That includes a school-record 51 points his freshman year.  All told, Sanders has scored at least 23 points on the Lions four times in his career. 

"We're glad that he has the competence he has when we play them," Benson said. "Thankfully, we've got a bit more balance now so he doesn't have to carry the load. If he does that again, great, but I feel better about the balance we have around him now."

The Lions have been okay offensively this season.  At 80.2 points per game they rank third in the SAC.  However, Mars Hill's woes have come primarily on the defensive side of the ball.  The Lions are second to last out of 291 Division II teams with 96.5 points allowed a game (the Lions have only held Wingate and Queens under 90 this season). 

MHU is also bottom 10 nationally in scoring margin (-16.2), turnovers (17.5) and blocked shots per game (1.0).  The Lions rank 279th nationally in field goal percentage defense (49.7). 

If you turned the Lions' cumulative opposition into another Division II team, it would rank second in the nation in points allowed, 16th in margin of victory, 32nd in field goal percentage. 

However, the Lions are the only South Atlantic Conference team that owns a victory over a DI School. Mars Hill beat Furman 97-94 earlier in the year. 

Carter Wright leads four Mars Hill players in double figures with 16.3 points per game.  Devonte Williams leads the South Atlantic Conference with his 5.7 assists per game. 

"It's a one-two punch that you have to slow down between those two," Benson said. "They're the two guys you have to focus on because of the way we play defensively. We don't want to concede anything easy to them."

Tipoff between the Eagles and Lions is set for 8 p.m.  Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:45 with the Countdown to Tipoff on 106.3 ESPN Radio the Zone (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.  

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