Eagles Fall at Lenoir-Rhyne in Overtime in SAC Tournament, 111-109
March 4, 2009
Hickory, N.C. The top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne University Mens Basketball Team (18-9) pulled out a 111-109 overtime thriller over No. 8-seed Carson-Newman (7-21) Wednesday evening in the first round of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament.
For the third straight year, L-R will face fourth-seeded Catawba in the semifinals at Catawba Valley Community College Saturday beginning at 6 p.m.
C-N's Jesse McMurray (Weber City, Va.) buried his first two three-point attempts to move into a tie for second place in South Atlantic Conference history with 232 career triples. The senior guard matched Wingate University's Djuan Hankins career total.
Senior guard Josh Rudder (Graham, N.C.) tied a career-high with 30 points while senior guard Elliott McDowell (Canton, N.C.) and sophomore forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) added 24 points each as the Bears pushed their winning streak to eight games.
Carson-Newman, who hit 13 three-pointers in the contest, led 86-76 with six minutes remaining in the second half, and was extremely close to pulling off the upset but could not finish the deal.
The Eagles were led by Bobby Guyton (Jesup, Ga.), who finished with 20 points and was one of six Carson-Newman players to score in double figures, while Darron Maxtion (Huntsville, Ala.) added 18 points in the losing effort.
Lenoir-Rhynes late comeback in the second half was fueled by Blackmon, who scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime, while McDowell forced overtime tied at 96 with a lay-up as time was running out.
Carson-Newman led 103-100 in the extra frame but still couldnt pull it out as Rudder and the Bears rallied again. Rudder, who scored nine of Lenoir-Rhynes 15 points in the overtime, gave L-R the lead for good with a lay-up with 1:47 left for a 106-104 advantage.
Carson-Newman had a chance to win but a three-pointer rimmed out as time expired. The Eagles lost despite shooting 66 percent (41-of-62) from the field.
Lenoir-Rhyne also advances to the tournament semifinals for the fifth straight year. C-N ends its season at 7-21.
