Eagles suffer shooting woes in 28-point loss at Johnson C. Smith
December 17, 2014

Eagles suffer shooting woes in 28-point loss at Johnson C. Smith

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carson-Newman (4-7) suffered through its worst shooting night in three years and the second worst in Chuck Benson’s four-and-a-half year tenure as head coach en route to a 79-51 thumping at the hands of Johnson C. Smith (5-5) Wednesday night at Brayboy Gym.

VIDEO: Chuck Benson interview

VIDEO: Carson Brooks interview

The Eagles' 28-point margin of defeat is their worst since losing 71-46 at Wingate in February of 2011. 

C-N shot an ice-cold 28.8 percent from the field.  The Eagles only connected on 15-of-52 shots; their second worst shooting percentage under Benson to a 12.5 percent effort in the fifth-year head coach's second game with the program, a 60-30 loss to Georgia College.

"I've been the head coach for four and a half seasons now and that's the first time I'm embarrassed to say I'm the coach at Carson-Newman," Benson said. "At this point we have players on this team that don't understand what they're job has to be for us to be successful.  We disgraced our uniforms tonight with our performance tonight. And, barring correction, changes will have to come."

Carson-Newman started the game by going the first 7:30 of the contest without hitting a shot.  The Golden Bulls used a 16-6 run in the interim to build a 14-point advantage. 

The Eagles trimmed the deficit to seven, 30-32 with 3:25 left in the half. But the Golden Bulls rattled off seven straight points, capped by a Markell Lowtharp tip-in to push the lead back to 14 points.  C-N headed into the locker room down 40-28 after turning the ball over 10 times in the first half. 

"We got plenty of good lucks," Benson said. "I'd wondered before the game, how focused would we be? Because I've not been in that last-game-before-Christmas situation with this group.  Tonight, it felt like we had more guy interested in getting to the house, than earning their opportunity.  If what he have in this program is not more valuable than that, I think there will be consequences."

The halftime break didn't do anything to assuage the Eagles' turnover issues.  C-N coughed it up on its first three possessions and the Golden Bulls ripped off a 14-3 run to put the game out of reach. 

Carson-Newman only hit two field goals in the game's final seven minutes.

Carson Brooks was the only Eagle in double-digits. He had a game-high 17 points.

Diondre Pratt led the Golden Bulls with 15 points. 

Johnson C. Smith blocked 10 Carson-Newman shots, led by Alandre Davis' three rejections.  The Golden Bulls assists on 28 of their 31 made baskets and outrebounded the Eagles 49-32.

Carson-Newman breaks for 17 days for the Christmas holiday before returning home Jan. 3 to face Wingate. Tipoff with the Bulldogs is set for 4 p.m. Pregame coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 p.m. with the Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Country 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. 

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