White-hot No. 21 C-N goes nuclear, withstands AU 95-92
November 30, 2024

White-hot No. 21 C-N goes nuclear, withstands AU 95-92

ANDERSON, S.C. -  No. 21 Carson-Newman (8-2, 4-1 South Atlantic Conference) couldn’t miss after halftime, but a bevy of C-N turnovers made things interesting as the Eagles managed to close out a 95-92 win over Anderson (5-2, 2-2 SAC) Saturday at the Abney Athletic Center. 

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Jack Browder Interview

ANDERSON, S.C. -  No. 21 Carson-Newman (8-2, 4-1 South Atlantic Conference) couldn't miss after halftime, but a bevy of C-N turnovers made things interesting as the Eagles managed to close out a 95-92 win over Anderson (5-2, 2-2 SAC) Saturday at the Abney Athletic Center. 

Carson-Newman connected on 84 percent of its shots after halftime (21-of-25) for the best shooting percentage in a half of basketball since the year 2000.  However, the Eagles also turned it over 11 times in the second half, 17 for the game, and three times in the final minute to turn a comfortable double-digit lead late into a squeaker that required free throws to ice. 

The Eagles utilized a 10-0 run to take an 88-76 lead with 91 seconds left.  Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) scored the first eight points on the run before Trey Hubbard (Charlotte, N.C.) capped the spurt with a driving layup. 

"First, credit to Anderson at the very end," head coach Chuck Benson said. "The way we ended that half, credit to them. It's not as if our guys laid down and quit, but we had a 12-point lead with 2:30 and got sloppy with the ball. We looked rattled, which I don't understand because we have good guard play.  I think that was a poor job on my part getting those guys some rest.  I should have given the starters more of a break, but didn't feel like I could.  Congrats to Anderson for their determination and resilience, but a bigger congrats to our guys for hanging in there and getting a really tough road win against a much-improved and elite defensive Anderson team." 

Anderson started the rally with a Cole Middleton tipin.  An offensive foul on the inbounds on Braden Ilic (Morristown, Tenn.) gave the ball back to AU, where three-point marksman Jackson Greco drew a foul on a triple attempt.  He canned two-of-three to get the deficit down to eight.  C-N got it back to nine after a Hubbard free throw before Dallas Jones made one of two freebies after being fouled on a layup attempt. 

C-N broke the press to get a two-on-one fast break, but C-N missed one of its four second half shots as John Zhao's (Sevierville, Tenn.) layup went halfway down before rattling out.  After a Sam Perez bucket, two straight C-N turnovers led to a 7-0 AU run to cut the deficit down to two with 20 seconds left. 

However, Ilic and Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) went 6-for-6 at the line in the final 20 seconds to seal the win. 

The 11 second-half turnovers obfuscated the bonkers shot-making for C-N.  The Eagles only missed one shot from the 14:32 mark of the second half to the 1:31 mark.  A 13:01 string that saw the Eagles go 16-of-17 from the field and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. 

"That was the most unbelievable half of shot-making I have seen in 600 games as a college head coach," Benson said. "If we don't shoot the ball like that, we don't win this game. We made adjustments at half, but a good solid team will make adjustments to those counters.  We got exploited in places on ball screen coverage.  On the flip, our guys did a great job recognizing what Anderson was doing defensively and taking advantage. A lot of that goes to Trey and our point-guard play, a lot of that goes to Braden on ball screens.  We turned around and make a concerted effort to get paint touches and that paid off." 

Browder was the chief catalyst to the insane shot-making.  He reset his career high with 33 points.  However, it was the second half that was on another level for Browder.  He connected on all nine of his second-half shots, including all four of his threes. 

"First half we got looks like we wanted to, they just weren't falling," Browder said. "We had to slow down in the paint and take our time to finish. We thought we knew what they would do defensively.  They did that in the first half, and then we responded the right way in the second half.  Coaches and teammates put me in a good position to finish in the second half." 

The 26-point second half came after he went 3-of-10 from the field and 1-of-3 from deep in the first half.  Browder has scored 64 points in his last two games against the Trojans.  He scored 16 of Carson-Newman's final 27 points. 

"Anderson is really good defensively across the board, and I thought we found some opportunities to put him in isolation and let him attack," Benson said. "Credit goes to Jack for being able to create close out and create separation while attacking on close. The name of the game is finishing. Making shots in college basketball is difficult against a team as well-coached defensively as Anderson is.  Our shot making, and Jack's shot making was otherworldly. That does  not lesson that Anderson is really good defensively and going to win a lot more games this year." 

The 30-point night was the second of Browder's career. Hubbard joined him with an efficient 20 points.  He was 9-of-11 from the field.  Hubbard had 17 after halftime and made all seven of his second-half shot attempts. 

Brenegan and Ilic rounded out C-N's double-digit scorers. Both had 14 points. 

Brenegan saw a six-game streak where he made at least three threes come to and end.  He was 2-for-2 from deep.  Ilic turned in his second career double-double with a career-best 12 rebounds. 

For all of C-N's insane shot-making, Anderson was no slouch after halftime.  The Trojans knocked down 22-of-38 second half buckets (57.9 percent) and 7-of-11 threes (63.6 percent).  The Trojans finished the game shooting 50.7 percent from the field. 

Cole Middleton led the Trojans with his ninth career double-double. He had 26 points and 12 boards.  Middlton entered the game shooting 2-of-6 from beyond the arc.  He was 4-for-5 from deep on C-N. 

AJ Wright nearly had a double-double for AU.  He turned in a 16-point effort and had nine assists.  Austin Webb and Perez both had 14 points.

Carson-Newman finished the game shooting 59.3 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from three (11-of-21).  The Eagles have made at least 50 percent of their shots in every game this season but the opener. 

The 95 points and 59.3 percent shooting effort are the highest that Anderson, the league's top scoring defense, has allowed this season. 

AU held slim leads in rebounds (34-33), points in the paint (48-46) and points off turnovers (26-21).  Carson-Newman scored off all but one of AU's 12 giveaways, and all seven of the Trojans' second-half turnovers. 

Carson-Newman has won four straight over AU in the Abney Center and three consecutive in the series.

Carson-Newman wraps up a three-game road trip with a Wednesday night affair at the Prior Convocation Center against UVA Wise. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagles Sports Network begins at 7:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. 

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