VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
WISE, Va. - For the first time all season, Carson-Newman (8-3, 4-2 South Atlantic Conference) struggled to score.
No. 19 C-N entered Wednesday night's game at UVA Wise (4-4, 2-3 SAC) ranked fourth in the nation in field goal efficiency. C-N came away from the Prior Convocation Center with an 87-81 loss and a season-low 40.6 percent shooting effort.
Instead of Carson-Newman celebrating a third consecutive road win, UVA Wise played the roll of spoiler for a second time this season – the Cavs are 2-0 against top-20 teams this year – en route to collecting its second-ever win over C-N in the 21-game series.
"The reality is hindsight being 20-20, I did a horrific job having our guys prepared for what we encountered," head coach Chuck Benson said. "Credit UVA Wise, their defense was strong at the rim, it was strong behind the arc. They made catches and finishing tough. I think our guys may have taken for granted on those night where it is extra tough, we have to be extra committed to whatever we say were going to be committed to. It was a very frustrating evening, and some of that goes back to UVA Wise and a defense that was really excellent against us, but I have to help our guys know how to handle this opponent."
Carson-Newman's primary struggled to score came at the rim. The Eagles were 7-for-20 from the field on layups. The normally hyper-efficient trio of Nick Brenegan, Trey Hubbard and John Zhao was a combined 4-of-15 at the hole.
C-N's 37.5 percent shooting effort in the first half was its worst shooting half of the season. The Eagles trailed 41-36 headed into the halftime lockerroom, it's second largest halftime deficit of the season.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, that would become C-N's largest deficit of the season. After a Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) hook shot, the Cavs rattled off a 13-0 run, the largest run by a C-N foe this season. The burst put the Cavs ahead 54-38 before the under-16 media of the second half.
The Eagles would whittle it down to eight a couple times after the surge, but would get no closer than two possession after a push in the final minute.
Browder reset his career highs in defeat. He scored 36 points on a 12-of-18 effort from the field and 4-of-4 mark from deep. He connected on all eight of his free throws. On top of that, he also produced a career-best 16 rebounds en route to his 15th career double-double.
"Good for Jack, he had a great night, he's very capable," Benson said. "But at the same time, and Jack would say this same thing, 'who cares?' We need to play in such a way as a team that leads us to a preferred outcome. We came up very short tonight. We have to have a better response moving forward. I'm surprised by how poorly we performed tonight."
Zhao had 17 points, albeit on 6-of-16 shooting, while Hubbard finished with 10. Hubbard, Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) and Braden Ilic (Morristown, Tenn.) all handed out five assists.
Brenegan saw a 24-game streak of consecutive games with a three end. He was 0-for-3 from deep and finished with six points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Carson-Newman did manage to harass Cavalier leading scorer Bradley Dean into an off night. He finished with seven points, 10 below his season average. Dean was 3-of-11 from the field and 1-for-4 from three.
However, while Dean struggled to score, others stepped up. Freshman center Evan Ramsey produced his fourth career 15-point game.
Patrick Shelley turned in a season-high 17-point night to go with a career-best 15 rebounds.
Then there was Max Lidman. He had scored 18 points all year and went for a career-best 13, more than double his previous career mark. He was 3-for-5 from deep after making three threes the entire season.
"What do you say," Benson said. "The strategy is built upon history of performance. They had guys who were unknown step up tonight. Who is Max Lidman? I know who Max Lidman is now. He's some random freshman from Europe who absolutely cooked us. Credit to big Max. Clearly they made a determination that they were gonna pull, and they fell tonight. It was a return roll of the dice. They took the dare, and it ended up blowing up in our face."
In addition to Lidman, Zy'ever Wingfield made as many threes (3-for-8) as he had all season enroute to finishing with 11 points. Meanwhile, Hensley Ward connected on his first three-point attempt of his career.
Lav Cvetkovic' was the Cavs fifth player in double-digits. He had 12.
The Cavs were 13-of-30 from deep as a team (43.3 percent). They entered the game ninth in the league and 222nd nationally in percentage at 30.8. The 13 threes are a season high. Wise finished the day shooting 47.1 percent from the field.
Carson-Newman turned the ball over a season-low six times and had a 13-5 edge in points off turnovers. The Cavs owned a 42-36 edge on the glass and a 36-30 edge in points in the paint.
The Eagles were 10-for-27 from deep.
Carson-Newman returns home Saturday to take on Limestone. Tipoff with the Saints 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 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
