Eagles open SAC action at Coker
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-1, 0-0 South Atlantic Conference) starts league play with its longest road trip of the year and a jaunt to Hartsville, S.C. to face Coker (1-4, 0-1 SAC) Saturday at 4 p.m. inside the DeLoach Center.
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|
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39 | 39 | 78 |
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27 | 45 | 72 |
VIDEO: Jan. 2025 C-N at Coker Full Broadcast Replay
VIDEO: On Press Row
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-1, 0-0 South Atlantic Conference) starts league play with its longest road trip of the year and a jaunt to Hartsville, S.C. to face Coker (1-4, 0-1 SAC) Saturday at 4 p.m. inside the DeLoach Center.
Coker is who Carson-Newman closed out the 2024-25 conference campaign against. The Cobras collected a 108-92 win over C-N in Holt Fieldhouse to snap a five-game losing streak to C-N.
Carson-Newman is squaring off with first-year Coker head coach Nick Pasqua. Pasqua has been around the Southeast Region for a decade with stops at Tusculum, Southern Wesleyan and Converse. Carson-Newman and Chuck Benson are 3-1 all-time against Pasqua. However, Pasqua's Southern Wesleyan Warriors got the better of C-N 80-78 the last time C-N played a Pasqua-coached team in the 2019-20 season.
Coker picked up a 108-92 win in Holt Fieldhouse last year to spoil C-N's senior day on March 1. That snapped a five-game C-N winning streak in the series. Carson-Newman has won 16 of the last 18 meetings with the Cobras dating back to a 69-63 win in the SAC tournament in 2015. Carson-Newman has 10 double-digit victories in those 16 wins. Carson-Newman won 103-97 in the DeLoach Center last year. John Zhao had 29 points to pace C-N, going 7-of-8 from deep. C-N shot 63.3 percent from beyond the arc and made a school-record 19 threes on the road.
Coker boasts the SAC's leading scorer in Limestone transfer Isayah Owens. Owens is averaging 21.8 points per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the field, 36.1 percent from three and 76.9 percent from the line all while handing out 6.0 assists per game. He's third in the league and 14th nationally in assists per game. Owens hasn't scored fewer than 16 points in a game this season and has a pair of games with at least 25 points.
Carson-Newman has held three of its first five foes faced below 36 percent shooting. C-N's 38.7 field goal percentage defense is 28th nationally and third in the SAC. C-N didn't hold anyone below 36 percent shooting last year. C-N hasn't had this string of defensive efforts since the 2022-23 season, the last time they held three teams below 36 percent shooting in a five-game stretch.
Jack Browder enters the contest on 1,477 career points. He is 13th all-time in scoring, and aiming to become the program's 13th all-time 1,500-point scorer with a 23-point night. From there, it's aways to go before catching Antoine Davis and his 1,526 points for 12th on the all-time list. Browder is ninth among active NCAA Division II players in career scoring and 43rd among all players in all divisions.
With 668 career rebounds, Browder is fifth among active Division II players in career rebounds. When her gets to 1,500 career points, he will join Mike Ogan, Tommy Everette, Charles Clark, Sawyer Williams and Antoine Davis as the sixth player in school history with 1,500 career points and 500 career rebounds. When he gets to 700 career rebounds, it will be Browder, Ogan and Everette as the only players in school history as members of that club. Browder is looking to become the sixth player in school history with 700 career boards.
With 27 career double-doubles, Browder already has career mark for Carson-Newman for all-time double-doubles (at least in the NCAA era where we have game-by-game stats). He has the second-most double-doubles among active NCAA Division II players, behind Young Harris' Carl Cleveland's 29.
Tipoff between the Eagles and Cobras is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. Fans can go "On Press Row" and watch the announcers at work for the radio call as well on Carson-Newman's YouTube and Facebook pages.
Team Stats
Coker
| Game Statistics | RV Carson-Newman | Coker |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (25-61) | (28-64) |
| Field Goal % | 41.0% | 43.8% |
| Rebounds | 42 | 35 |
| Assists | 12 | 18 |
| Turnovers | 15 | 17 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 30 | 14 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 5 | 8 |
| Pts in the Paint | 28 | 28 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 15 | 9 |
| Bench Pts | 4 | 8 |
