JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. --- Carson-Newman's Jack Browder scored 26 points including nine in overtime as the Eagles held off Tusculum 69-60 Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action.
Carson-Newman (11-8, 6-7 SAC) sweeps the season series over Tusculum (8-11, 4-9 SAC) for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign. TU will wrap up its three-game road trip on Friday when they travel to Wingate for a rare 12 p.m. contest at Cuddy Arena.
The Eagles led by 18 in the first half and held a 35-20 at the intermission. Tusculum opened the second period with a 13-0 run and would get a game-tying three-pointer by Bryce Jackson with 15.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime tied, 52-52.
TU freshman Jordan Attia made one of two free throws as the Pioneers led 53-52 to start the extra period. From there, it was all C-N as the Eagles went on a 16-1 run for most of the OT frame including key triples by Matt Bilbrey and Braden Ilic, while Browder went 7-of-8 from the free throw line in OT.
Browder finished the game with 14 rebounds for his SAC-leading 10th double-double of the season. Bilbrey posted 14 points, while Ilic added 11 markers.
Attia led the Pioneers with his 13 points, Jackson finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Malachi Hale tallied 10 points for the visitors. TJ Printup had nine points, six rebounds, three blocked shots and four steals, while Wesley Johnson posted a career-best 10 rebounds.
Carson-Newman used a 21-5 run in the first half while making 11 of its first 22 shots to take a 28-12 with 7:48 left in the half. The run was sparked by back-to-back triples by Browder as he finished the half with 17 points. C-N would take its largest lead of the game at 33-15 with 2:22 left in the half following a Browder layup.
Meanwhile, Tusculum missed 15 of its first 20 field goal tries and ended the period shooting 24 percent from the floor as C-N took a 35-20 lead into the locker room.
The Pioneers jumped out of the gate in the second half scoring the first 13 points capped by a Denaj Kimber jumper as the 18-point deficit was tripped to two (35-33) with 14:49 left in the second half. Brilbrey ended the drought before Printup drained a three-pointer and Jackson followed with a layup as TU went up 38-37 for its first lead of the game.
C-N responded with an 8-2 run as Colin Brown canned back-to-back layups as the Eagles led 45-40 with 8:56 on the clock. The teams traded buckets as Carson-Newman led 47-42 with 8:21 remaining. The teams went in a scoring drought for the next two minutes before Rylan Houck pushed the lead to 49-42 with 6:11 to go.
A three-pointer by Johnson and an Allen layup had the Pioneers within two at 49-47 with 3:25 left in regulation.
Bilbrey banged a triple as C-N led 52-47 with 2:57 on the scoreboard. Neither team would score for the next 1:22 as TU committed a turnover and missed a shot. Meanwhile, the Eagles, who entered the game as the league's top free throw shooting team, missed the front ends of two bonus chances at the free throw line.
Printup would convert a driving layup to cut the C-N lead to 52-49 with 1:25 to go in regulation. Both teams would go into a scoring slump for the next minute. With C-N in the double bonus with 29 seconds left, Bilbrey missed the first free throw. After a TU timeout, Bilbrey would miss the second as the Pioneers were still alive.
Jackson would hit the three-point with 15.4 seconds left as Tusculum tied the game at 52-52. After a C-N timeout, the Eagles found Bilbrey whose three-pointer was off line as the Pioneers had the ball with 1.6 seconds left. TU would get off a three-pointer by Jackson, but his shot hit off the rim as the game went into overtime.
C-N finished the game shooting 25-of-58 from the floor (43%) including 10-of-26 from three-point territory (38%). TU was held to 29 percent shooting (22-of-77) including 2-of-10 in the overtime session.
Both teams shot poorly at the free throw line as TU went 8-of-15 (53%) while the Eagle went 9-of-17 (53%) including Browder's 7-of-8 effort in the final five minutes.
Carson-Newman held a 54-41 edge in rebounding, while the Pioneers forced 17 turnovers on 11 steals in including seven miscues in the first six minutes of the second half. But TU could only score nine points on those 17 turnovers while finishing the game with eight.
Jackson's 11 points moves him into 25th place on Tusculum's all-time scoring ladder as his 1,085 career points moves him past All-SAC center Brad Hawks (1,076 from 2001-2005).
