Eagles rally, but ice cold first half proves to much to overcome at E&H
January 7, 2026

Eagles rally, but ice cold first half proves to much to overcome at E&H

EMORY, Va. – Carson-Newman (8-5, 3-4 South Atlantic Conference) suffered through its worst shooting performance in 11 years as Emory & Henry (8-5, 3-4 SAC) took an 83-73 wire-to-wire win over the Eagles Wednesday evening at the King Center. 

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

EMORY, Va. – Carson-Newman (8-5, 3-4 South Atlantic Conference) suffered through its worst shooting performance in 11 years as Emory & Henry (8-5, 3-4 SAC) took an 83-73 wire-to-wire win over the Eagles Wednesday evening at the King Center. 

The win is the first for the Wasps in the 20-game history of the series.  C-N falls for a third straight time in league play for the first time since February 2023. 

C-N was 7-of-33 (21.2 percent) from the field in the first half – its worst shooting half since November of 2010.  The Eagles finished 18-of-62 (29.0 percent) from the floor for its first sub-30 percent shooting night since Dec. 17, 2014 and a loss at Johnson C. Smith. 

"We are really in a good place if things go our way right out of the gate," head coach Chuck Benson said. "It didn't go our way right out of the gate.  We have to deal with adversity.  It felt like on both ends of the floor, we just lost the plot. I saw controllable mistakes stacked upon more controllable mistakes."   

E&H used a 15-0 run while C-N suffered through the second of two five-minute field goal droughts in the first half to build an 18-point halftime lead.  The Wasps led by 21 early in the second half before C-N rallied, getting as close as seven on the heels of a 12-2 run at the mid-point of the period. 

"In the first half in particular, we were coaching controllables and that is always a recipe for a loss. Credit to our guys the second half, but this is a 40-minute game and there are no pats on the back for a 20-minute performance." 

The Eagles second-half surge came as E&H went three minutes without a bucket.  But after that swoon, the Wasps would miss consecutive shots just two more times in the period. 

E&H knocked down 53.8 percent of its shots after halftime, including 5-of-11 threes.  The Wasps had answer points anytime C-N drew close to making it a two-possession game.    

"Their second-half shotmaking was strong," Benson said. "The second half, they weren't getting wide open shots. They were making contested, low-quality shots.  Credit and kudos to them for that."   

Carson-Newman was in the game thanks to its free throw shooting.  C-N only scored 12 points in the paint, but was frequently fouled on drives. C-N was 28-of-31 at the line.  Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) joined Hall of Famer Chris Jones as the only players in school history to make 20 free throws in a game.  Browder connected on 20-of-21, coming within one free throw of tying Jones' school-record 21 set against Tusculum in 1962. 

Browder finished with 28 points, albeit on a 4-of-23 effort from the field. He did log his ninth straight 20-point effort and his fourth consecutive double-double with 11 boards. 

He also moved past Gerald Ellington and into ninth on the all-time scoring list.

Matt Bilbrey (Crossville, Tenn.) reset his career high with 23.  He was 7-of-15 from the field and 5-of-11 from deep.  Bilbrey also matched a career high with seven rebounds. 

Caiden Botts (Cleveland, Tenn.) also matched a career high with eight points. He also knocked down his first career threes and was 2-of-4 from deep. 

E&H finished the game shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three.  The Wasps connected on 12-of-27 triples. 

"Our response to what we were (a team struggling to make shots) left a lot to be desired to me as the head coach," Benson said. "You're gonna have bad days, but we have to have a more resilient determined approach.  We struggled to make shots, but we were still getting good shots.  If that's happening, then we have to make our opponent miserable on the other end. We had way too many defensive breakdowns with actions and coverages that typically don't give us a lot of problems, but they gave us problems today." 

Jackson Crawford led E&H with 22, while Korbin Dixon added 19.  Isaac Hymes chipped in 14, while Melchior Hughes had 12 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting from deep. 

C-N outscored E&H 16-7 in points off turnovers, and 21-10 in second chance points.  However those figures weren't enough to overcome C-N's overall poor shooting. 

Carson-Newman stays on the road to take on No. 24 Lenoir-Rhyne. Tipoff from Shuford Arena is set for 4 p.m. 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. A view of press row with the radio call is available as well on YouTube. 

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