Browder explodes on Wise, C-N rallies for 85-70 win
February 4, 2026

Browder explodes on Wise, C-N rallies for 85-70 win

WISE, Va – Carson-Newman (13-8, 8-7 South Atlantic Conference) was staring down the barrel of a 13-point deficit in the first half against a UVA Wise (17-6, 10-5 SAC) team that was tied for second in the SAC standings. 

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Jack Browder Interview

VIDEO: Rylan Houck Interview

WISE, Va – Carson-Newman (13-8, 8-7 South Atlantic Conference) was staring down the barrel of a 13-point deficit in the first half against a UVA Wise (17-6, 10-5 SAC) team that was tied for second in the SAC standings. 

The Eagles responded, dropping the hammer with a 61-point second half en route to a sweep of the season series and an 85-70 win over the Cavaliers Wednesday night in the Prior Convocation Center. 

"Lotta poise in this one," head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson said. "We talked about that in our preparation because I've got a lot of respect for this Cavalier team.  They are an NCAA tournament team in my mind. They have elite talent.  Our guys had resiliency to stay committed for 40 minutes and that was as good as it could be." 

Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) gave back shot after shot with his seventh career 30-point night.  He finished with 35 points to lead all scorers.  He moved past Arnold Mellinger, grandfather of UVA Wise head coach Blake Mellinger, and into seventh place on Carson-Newman's all-time scoring list.   

"That was a fantastic environment from UVA Wise," Browder said. "That was incredible.  I think we responded to that well.  It boosted us.  It didn't distract us and it fueled us. As a collective, we did that." 

Browder finished one off his career high.  He was 8-of-16 from the field, 2-of-6 from beyond the arc and 17-of-20 at the charity stripe. 

"He got to the line a lot because he was hunting the paint and putting pressure on the rim off the bounce," Benson said. "He is the ultimate competitor.  The games aren't too big for him.  We have elite trust in him.  I was joking with (assistant coach) Luke (Brenegan) before the game that it'd be nice if Jack would get 36 tonight. I didn't tell Jack that, but he must have known what I was thinking.  It took our best offensive half to win this game. 

Wise led by 13 with 6:41 to go in the first half, 27-17, following a posterizing dunk by Cavs' seven-footer Evan Ramsey.  The Cavs wouldn't score from the field over the next eight minutes.

In the interim, C-N jaunted out on a 15-2 run spanning the halftime break to get within two, 29-27, 33 seconds into the second half.  

UVA Wise responded with a 7-0 burst to get the lead back to nine before the wheels came loose.  The Cavs were whistled for two technicals and a flagrant foul in a four-minute window. 

The technical free throws sparked a 14-1 run that put the Eagles up 49-43 with 12:46 to go in the second half.  Browder scored six of the 14 points on the run at the line.

"We have some guys who are experienced," Benson said. "We shortened our rotation the second half and kept veterans on the floor who have proven that know how to deal with change.  That helped as the officiating shifted from a looser style that was going to let fouls go to a game that was called more tightly." 

C-N left no doubt with a 10-2 run in the final minutes to hand the Cavs their second home loss of the season. Wise had won five straight at home. 

The 13-point deficit is the largest that Carson-Newman has overcome this season.

C-N outscored Wise 61-41 in the second half. It's the second 60-point half of basketball for C-N, and the first since the first, first half of basketball of the season – a 62-point half against King on opening night. 

C-N connected on 16-of-27 shots after halftime, including 12-of-17 inside the three-point arc.  Carson-Newman was 27-of-32 from the line for the game, including 25-of-30 after halftime.  A quarter of C-N's free throws were technical foul shots.

Meanwhile, C-N limited the Cavs to 39.7 percent shooting. Wise was averaging 83.7 points and 48.9 percent shooting entering the contest.

"The first time we played them, we beat them at the line and on the glass," Benson said. "They beat us in every other conceivable way. Going into this one, we wanted to have more transition points than them.  We did that.  Then in the half court, I thought our defense was pretty solid.  Blake is a really strong offensive mind, and with the talent they have, they had some good approaches, but this came down to a game in the paint.  Though they have some incredible paint presence, I felt we were able to impact that.  We surged with our defense, establishing something that frustrated them.  We were able to capitalize." 

Wise was 5-of-19 from beyond the arc.  C-N made just 6-of-22 threes. 

Both teams had 36 rebounds.  The Cavs had a 13-7 edge on the offensive glass, but the teams were deadlocked 11-11 in second chance points.

C-N turned it over 13 times compared to 14 for Wise, but had just two turnovers after halftime.  C-N owned a 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

Keliese Frye (Newport, Tenn.) matched his career high with 16 points.  He was 7-of-9 from the field.  Matt Bilbrey (Crossville, Tenn.) added in 15.  All 15 of his pointed came after halftime. 

Bilbrey started 0-of-10 from the field, but finished 6-of-7.  He handed out a game-high five assists. 

Braden Ilic (Morristown, Tenn.) had 10 points and six boards. 

Rylan Houck (Oxford, Ala.) stuffed the stat sheet with six points, eight boards, four assists and a career high three steals. 

"Before the game I prayed that we would compete to the highest level today," Houck said. "God indeed answers prayers. We competed to the highest level. That was fun and rewarding.  We crave that." 

Ramsey and Patrick Shelley had twin 21-point nights for UVA Wise.  Ramsey had a double-double with 11 boards.  He was 7-of-14 from the field. 

Shelley made 7-of-11 shots and 1-of-5 threes. 

Kam Roberts, who had 24 in the first meeting, had four on 2-of-13 shooting.

Carson-Newman takes on fifth-ranked Anderson Saturday at 4 p.m. from the Abney Athletic Center. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network starts at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.  A video feed of the broadcast crew working "On Press Row" can be found on YouTube

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