Carson-Newman (11-9, 5-5 South Atlantic Conference) went ice cold and shot a season-low 33.8 percent from the field as UVA Wise (12-7, 5-5 SAC) outscored C-N by 13 after halftime to take a 78-65 decision from the Eagles Wednesday night in the Prior Center.
Carson-Newman converted on just 23-of-68 shots, including a paltry 9-of-35 after halftime (25.7 percent). The Eagles attempted a season-high 37 threes, knocking down 12 of them.
“I thought we got some good looks,” Carson-Newman head men’s basketball coach Chuck Benson said. “We practice shooting so frequently, and I have a lot of faith in our shot takers. This is a game where you are looking to take the shots they’ve worked on and proven they can make. We had a ton of opportunities to take shots we practice, and we missed them. Tat is what it is.”
The 33.8 percent shooting mark is the second time this season the Eagles have misfired at a clip worse than 35 percent (a loss at Newberry is the other).
Ren Dyer (Weaverville, N.C.) was the only player on the roster to hit 50 percent of his shots. The sophomore was 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to lead C-N in scoring wih 21, his sixth career 20-point night.
“If you’re telling me that the players we have took the vast majority of those threes tonight, I’d have bet that wouldn’t be the case,” Benson said. “I chalk that up to happenstance. The way they defended, they made it hard to get to the post the way they defend it, even with that, we still got the ball inside and got to the bonus first. The way we play this game, it requires a level of shot-making, we didn’t meet that today.”
Caleb Bridgewater (Charlotte, N.C.) was the only other Eagle in double digits. He had 11 while knocking down 3-of-9 threes and 4-of-10 shots.
UVA Wise went 9-of-25 from deep (36 percent), and became the second team this season to outscore C-N inside the paint, doing so 30-20.
The SAC’s leading scorer, Bradley Dean, exceeded his scoring average, dropping 28 on C-N. He was 11-of-18 from the field and 3-of-6 from three.
“There’s a reason why he is the leading scorer in this conference,” Benson said. “We had some miscues against him, but he was so aggressive. We didn’t fully execute our plan and put that study into practice to successfully and consistently do our jobs.”
Zion Fruster and Ben Bryson both added 13 for the Cavs, while Patrick Shelley had 10.
After five ties and 13 lead changes, UVA Wise broke open a tight contest with a 19-5 run over a six-minute span early in the second half while C-N went through an eight minute stretch with just one made shot.
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