Defense dominates, C-N wins seventh straight
February 17, 2021

Defense dominates, C-N wins seventh straight

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (12-5, 10-5 South Atlantic Conference) held its fifth opponent below 60 points to rattle off is seventh straight win by double digits with a 76-56 triumph over Mars Hill (1-13, 1-13 SAC) Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Dima Bykov Interview  

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (12-5, 10-5 South Atlantic Conference) held its fifth opponent below 60 points to rattle off is seventh straight win by double digits with a 76-56 triumph over Mars Hill (1-13, 1-13 SAC) Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.

"If you tell me that you hold a team to 56 points and 36 percent shooting and you outrebound a team by nine," Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "I'd like to think that I would be pretty happy with that from a defensive standpoint. Offensively though, we were a trainwreck.  I don't know if it was a lack of focus, I don't have a great understanding of why we struggled.  What I do like is that we controlled what we could control defensively and that with rebounding allowed us to come out with a win, inspite of our incredible efforts to not win the game offensively."

Carson-Newman started sluggishly, shooting 36.4 percent from the field in the opening half before finding its offensive footing after halftime.  The Eagles knocked down 18-of-31 shots after halftime and 6-of-9 threes to finish shooting 46.9 percent from the field. 

The Eagles used a 22-7 run to open up the second half and build a 53-26 lead with 11:24 to play in the second half. 

EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) threw down an alley-oop jam on the break while Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) and Joshuwa Butts (Fairburn, Ga.) capped the burst with a three and a fast break bucket, respectively. \

"This was such an unusual game," Benson said. "You shoot 58 percent from the field and 60 percent from three (in the second half), that seems like it should be good enough, what's the problem? But it just wasn't up to snuff tonight.  Tonight was ugly."

Mars Hill thwarted shot after shot at the tin.  The Lions swatted 10 shots to become the 12th NCAA Division II team this season to have double-digit blocks in a game. Nassyr Daniel redirected six, the most in a game in Division II this season. 

Freshman forward Justus Shelton added in three blocks for the Lions, a career high. 

"We knew Nassyr Daniel had that capability," Benson said. "Justus Shelton really stepped up and made things difficult down low.  I did not see their team shot-blocking coming.  That probably added to the grossness of what we saw.  To give our guys some credit, we did handle some of our business, albeit in a heinous way."  

Ren Dyer (Weaverville, S.C.) led Carson-Newman with 12 points, all from long distance.  He knocked down 4-of-5 threes.  He is Carson-Newman's lowest scoring leading scorer this year.  Dyer filled up the stat sheet with eight boards and four assists. 

Tyler Bowens (Greenville, S.C.) and Bush each added in 11. 

Bryant Thomas matched Dyer with a game-high eight boards.  Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) reset his career high for assists by dropping eight dimes. 

"We don't have to hope that one guy delivers when you have the balance that we had tonight," Benson said. "I'm definitely thankful that a lot of guys did a little."

Javonte Cook was Mars Hill's lone double-digit scorer.  He had 15 points. The Eagles held MHU's leading scorer Austin Gilyard nine below his average on the season. He finished with six on 3-of-9 shooting. 

Carson-Newman outrebounded the Lions 46-37. The Eagles handed out 18 assists on 30 made baskets. 

Carson-Newman tangles with Mars Hill again Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Stanford Arena.  Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live and over the airwaves on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville).  The broadcast begins with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff 15 minutes prior to gametime. 

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