Browder’s big day propels Eagles past ‘Dogs
February 14, 2026

Browder’s big day propels Eagles past ‘Dogs

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -  Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) reset his career high with 37 points and Carson-Newman (15-9, 10-8 South Atlantic Conference) produced its best three-point shooting night of the season to stiff-arm Wingate (11-13, 6-12 SAC) 86-75 Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse. 

VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Jack Browder Interview

VIDEO: Colin Brown Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -  Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) reset his career high with 37 points and Carson-Newman (15-9, 10-8 South Atlantic Conference) produced its best three-point shooting night of the season to stiff-arm Wingate (11-13, 6-12 SAC) 86-75 Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse. 

C-N splits the season series with the Bulldogs.  The Eagles have won five of their last six games. 

Browder got to 37 in an unusual fashion.  The NCAA's leader in minutes played this season, Browder only played 29 foul-troubled minutes – his lowest usage in a game this season. 

With the 37 points, Browder tallied his eighth-career 30-point night and moved past Ish Sanders on both the Carson-Newman and South Atlantic Conference's all-time scoring list. He is sixth on both listings with 1,939 career points. 

"He didn't play 30 minutes, but he was good for more than a point per minute, which is so impressive," Benson said. "What more do I need to say about this dude. Let's just put it in context. Ish Sanders was an elite scorer from day one. Jack has come into it slowly. He wasn't a late bloomer, but he averaged six a game as a freshman.  He has more than made up for it.  His loyalty that he has shown to our institution, this program and our coaches is unmatched.

"We've had a lot of guys who have given and sacrificed, but that guy had opportunities to leave, but he chose to stay. We're thankful to have a guy like that who is a great example of Christian leadership, who can stay the course and be one of the all-time greats in the history of our conference."

Browder was 11-of-20 from the field, a season-best 5-of-8 from deep and 10-of-11 at the free throw line.   He also snagged five rebounds.

"I have put zero thought to that (where he is on the all-time scoring rankings) this entire season and will continue to do that," Browder said. "I know my role on this team is put the ball in the basket, for the most part. That doesn't happen by myself, that happens with four other guys around me. I'm grateful for our guys every single day to put that trust in me. I trust them just as much, they got the job done.  I had 37, but if you look at the plus minus, I was zero.  We separated ourselves from them in the first half with me on the bench." 

The Eagles did hit their surge in the game with Browder on the bench.  He picked up his second foul with just over six minutes to go in the first half, and exited for the final six minutes of the first half. 

The Bulldogs had just scored five straight to get within two points, 24-22 on a pair of Derek Bradley free throws. 

After Browder exited, C-N outscored the Bulldogs 17-6 over the final six minutes to carry a 41-28 lead into the halftime lockerroom. The bulk of the burst came on a 13-2 run headlined by a trio of threes, two from Matt Bilbrey (Crossville, Tenn.) and one from Rylan Houck (Oxford, Ala.). 

Wingate dropped a heavy haymaker after halftime.  The Bulldogs connected on 9-of-11 threes to start the period.  Wingate got as close as three with 7:26 to go after a 6-0 run by Jordan Miller by himself where he canned back-to-back threes. Miller, a career 30 percent three-point shooter, connected on 5-of-8 threes and finished with 22 points to lead Wingate. 

After Miller's back-to-back makes, C-N switched to a zone and Wingate missed its next four threes.  A 9-2 run ensued for C-N to get the lead back to double-digits. Seven of the nine points on the run were scored at the line. 

"I really liked our defensive effort the first half," head coach Chuck Benson said. "We got that out to 15 after halftime, and I knew Wingate would come at us fast and furious. I was expecting that. I didn't expect them to go 9-of-11 from three. We made adjustments and threw some zone at them.  I thought that allowed us to stabilize and get our lead back.  First half, really happy with our overall defensive performance, second half, kudos to them, they made a lot of tough shots. At the end of the day, we were still able to attain a lot of the primary targets we had for today's game." 

Wingate finished the game shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 12-of-27 from deep.  The Bulldogs were 9-of-15 from range after halftime.  The shooting night snapped a string of eight straight games C-N had kept its opposition below 43 percent shooting. 

However, Carson-Newman passed offensive muster itself. C-N made 52.9 percent of its shots and connected on 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) threes – C-N's top shooting percentage from deep this season with double-digit makes. It was just C-N's fifth game with double-digit threes this season. 

C-N had three players finished in double-digits.  In addition to Browder's 37, Bilbrey finished with 18. 

He was 6-of-11 from the field, 2-of-4 from deep and a flawless 4-for-4 at the stripe. 

"The best thing about Bilbrey today was his mother brought four dozen Crumbl cookies," Benson said. "He only had 18, but his mom dropped 48 cookies on us. Those cookies were magic in my mouth.  He was so efficient. He's showing a level of consistency as a sophomore.  We love it when we have the ball in his hands.  He's embracing that and delivering in big time ways." 

Houck added 16.  He also was efficient, making 4-of-6 shots, 3-of-4 threes and all five of his free throws. 

Wingate got 22 points and eight assists from Miller.  Alex Godly added 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting.  Kendall Campbell scored 14, while Corbin Pack rounded out Wingate's double-digit scoring quartet with 11. 

Carson-Newman and Wingate both only turned the ball over nine times, but C-N had an 11-5 edge in points off turnovers. C-N has had single-digit turnovers in consecutive games for the first time this season. The Eagles pulled that off twice last season. 

"We took such good care of the ball," Benson said. "That's back-to-back single-digit turnover games. I did think our scout discipline was very solid tonight. I go home tonight feeling pretty good." 

After getting outrebounded by nine in the meeting in Cuddy Arena, Carson-Newman snagged a 30-27 edge on the glass. 

Carson-Newman takes on Emory & Henry in Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle 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.  A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMbb. Fans can also watch the ESN crew broadcast the action with a live view of press row on YouTube. 

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