C-N surges in second half, smashes L-R 73-54
January 16, 2021

C-N surges in second half, smashes L-R 73-54

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (3-4, 3-4 South Atlantic Conference) turned in its best defensive performance in six years in a 73-54 triumph over Lenoir-Rhyne (4-2, 4-2 SAC) Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse. 

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Ren Dyer Interview

VIDEO: Luke Brenegan Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (3-4, 3-4 South Atlantic Conference) turned in its best defensive performance in six years in a 73-54 triumph over Lenoir-Rhyne (4-2, 4-2 SAC) Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse. 

The Eagles held Lenoir-Rhyne to 29.4 percent shooting (20-of-68) from the field and 24.1 percent shooting (7-of-29) from three.  That's the lowest shooting percentage by a Carson-Newman opponent since the Eagles held Wingate to 27.4 percent shooting on Jan. 3, 2015. 

Carson-Newman held the league's third highest scoring offense to its worst shooting night since Nov. 26, 2019 and its lowest scoring output Feb. 16, 2019 and a 56-54 loss at Tusculum. 

"Give the credit to our players," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "Their focus and preparation is showing great value and great play come gametime.  We've got guys who are playing exceptionally hard and are making multiple effort plays to make offense hard for our opponents.  Lenoir-Rhyne is a proven offense and a veteran club. I was excited to see what our defense would be like against them.  Today, for one game, we definitely did the job."

The game see-sawed back and forth for the first 25 minutes before the Eagles took control in large part thanks to Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.).

After trailing the Eagles by four at the break, Lenoir-Rhyne grabbed a 38-36 lead with 16:22 to play following a Mason Hawks steal and a Zim Fields fast break bucket. 

Benson called for time and it was all Eagles the rest of the way.  Brenegan and Tyson McClain traded triples on the next two possessions before Brenegan took over.  Over the next 88 seconds, Brenegan would score nine straight points to give C-N a 48-41 lead with 12:38 to play that it wouldn't come close to relinquishing. 

"Only because there were so many guys that I can talk about tonight," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "I have no problems talking about that offensive burst Luke provided in the second half.  He made the shots, but what was equally encouraging was his teammates wanting to keep his hot hand going to squeeze as much juice out of him as possible. That was definitely a separation moment."

Brenegan scored 12 of his 15 points within the 3:22 stretch of game action.  Brenegan got the run rolling with a key hole jumper before rubbing around a screen for a three.  He finished his spurt by opening up the bank with a 10-footer from the right win. 

"I knew I was feeling good," Brenegan said. "I hit one, got rolling and kept hitting open shots."

However, Brenegan's surge was a part of a larger run that buried the Bears.  A Darius Simmons triple cut C-N's advantage to four with 11:16 to go.  That would be as close as L-R got.  The Eagles rolled to a 16-2 run while Lenoir-Rhyne made three more field goals the rest of the game and just two in the final nine minutes of the contest. 

"Our defense got us better opportunities as we flowed into halfcourt," Benson said. "We cut down significantly on turnovers. That last 15 we were really locked in. Our defense and rebounding provided a lot of offensive opportunities for us."

A Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) triple with 8:35 left gave C-N a double-digit lead before Dima Bykov (Moscow, Russia) collected tip-in and Davis hit two more free throws to swell C-N's edge to 20, 68-48, for the first time this season with 4:28 left. 

Carson-Newman singed the nets in the second half to the tune of 64 percent shooting (16-of-25) from the field and 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from long range.  The Eagles made 9-of-10 shots as they made their 16-2 run. 

When the dust settled, Carson-Newman had snapped a four-game home losing streak and collected it's fourth win of 19 points or greater in the 70-game series history between the Eagles and Bears.

"We've always had such great support from our campus community and our local community," Benson said. "With nobody here, our guys are not only playing, they're cheerleading, they're dancing to the point that Christy Bowlin (C-N's spirit squad coach) would be proud of them.  I think it's fair that we've been starved of fun for the last calendar year. So this will be our outlet."    

Apropos the Eagles' defensive dominance was their rebounding.  Carson-Newman had five players grab at least six rebounds and notched a 51-28 edge on the glass for its first +20 rebounding margin since outrebounding Warren Wilson 57-32 on Dec. 4, 2019.    

Carson-Newman's 51 boards register as the program's first 50-rebound game since Dec. 7, 2019 at Anderson.  The total is the 13th-highest rebounding total in a single game in school history. 

EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) helmed Carson-Newman's offense with a quiet 20 points – his first such game this season and the third of his career. He was 7-of-13 from the field and 5-of-7 at the line.  He had six boards.

Brenegan added 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including a 3-of-6 mark from long range. He handed out five assists for a second straight game. 

Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) turned in the first double-double of his young career with 10 points and 12 boards.  The double-double is the fastest by a freshman in the last 21 years for C-N.  Charles Clark (23 games), Carson Brooks (23 games) and Corbin Jackson (20 games) are the only other freshmen to produce a double-double in their freshman seasons at C-N. 

With the 10-point effort, Dyer turned in his fifth straight double-digit performance, joining Ish Sanders (six) and Charles Clark (five) as the only frosh to produce five-straight double-digit games in the last 21 years.

"His urgency and effort is second to none," Benson said. "In that urgency and effort, it oozes off him onto other people and he infects them with it. To say that he is unusual in how he goes about this, it's the highest compliment I can give him."

While Bush, Brenegan and Dyer blossomed, Carson-Newman greatly hampered the effectiveness of Lenoir-Rhyne's big three. 

The league's fifth-leading scorer Darius Simmons was held two points below his season average with 17. However, he was 5-of-18 from the field. 

RJ Gunn, a first team All-SAC performer, had 14 but in 26 foul-troubled minutes.  He was 5-of-12 from the field and didn't hit a three for the first time in 21 games. 

Finally, after averaging 17 points per game last year on C-N, Mason Hawks was drastically impacted. Hawks finished with three points. He made the second shot he took – a three – then proceeded to finish 1-for-10 from the field and 1-for-8 from three. 

Carson-Newman returns to the floor Wednesday for its lone non-conference game on the schedule.  The Eagles challenge Bluefield State at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast web only at cneagles.com/live starting with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. 

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