2014-15 Carson-Newman Men’s Basketball Media Guide Chuck Benson enters his fifth season as head coach of the Carson-Newman program and eighth season overall in Mossy Creek. Benson, a 1991 graduate of C-N, spent four sea-sons as associate head coach of the Eagles before being named head coach. Chuck Benson Head Coach Fifth Year Carson-Newman, 1991 In his fourth season at the Creek, Benson took Carson-Newman back to the promised land. The Eagles went to their first NCAA tournament in 12 years and their first in program his-tory by virtue of an at-large bid. Utilizing a suffocating zone defense, the Eagles took home victories over a top 10 Lincoln Memorial club and had wins over teams from Anderson, Wingate and Barton who all received votes in the NABC top 25 at various points during the season. The Eagles spent five weeks ranked in the NCAA Division II top 25 during the 2013-14 season, the most for Carson-Newman in the program's history in Division II. In fact, Carson- Newman has been ranked in the NABC top 25 just five weeks total outside of the 2013-14 season. C-N was led by all-region performers Antoine Davis and Ish Sanders who both finished in the top 10 in scoring in program history. Davis concluded his career with 1,526 and Sanders with 1,922 points. Sanders is the program and conference's leader all-time leader in made threes with 343 treys. Benson also hit a per-sonal milestone, collecting his 200th career victory with a win over Anderson. Benson has coached six individuals who have earned either preseason or postseason All-America accolades. Davis and Sanders earned such honors at Carson-Newman; Ed Perkins, Desmond Allison, Johnny Goodman and Marcus McNair picked up the accolades for Benson at Martin Methodist. In 2012-13, Benson earned SAC coach of the year honors after guiding C-N to a 12-6 mark in conference play and a 20-8 mark overall in year three. The 12 conference wins are Carson-Newman's most since 2001-2002 when it went to the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, it was C-N's first 20-win season since to 2002-2003 year. The 2012-13 campaign was one of many firsts for Benson. The Eagles had their longest win streak to start a season (five games) since the 1997-1998 season. It was tied for the third best start in school history. Benson also helped coach two remarkable seasons by C-N stars Antoine Davis and Ish Sanders. Davis earned SAC player of the year honors as well as All-America honors from D-II Bulletin. Davis lead the South Atlantic Conference in scoring (19.0 points per game) and made field goals (170). A two-time South Atlantic Conference player of the week award winner, Davis became the first C-N player since 2003-2004 with multiple 30-point games in a single season. Davis and Sanders were both preseason and postseason first team All-SAC selections. A SAC Player of the Week award winner, Sanders turned in four consecutive 25-point performances, the longest such streak at Carson-Newman this century. He was one of three SAC players with consecutive 25-point performances, but the only player who has gone beyond two. Sanders set a season high with 33 points in a home win against then league-leading Anderson. The shooting guard went 11-for-22 from the field and 9-for-18 from three in that game. It was the fourth most threes in a single game in SAC history. In that contest, Sanders set Carson- Newman’s single season record for three pointers made - the previous record was 86, Sanders finished the year with 99. In year two for Benson, the Eagles finished 15-14 overall and 8-10 in the SAC. The 2011-2012 campaigned was highlighted by a sweep of archrival and nationally ranked Lincoln Memorial. Benson's Eagles knocked the fifth-ranked Railsplitters down on the road 64-61 - ending a 30-game home winning streak for LMU - on Jan. 25 before coming back to Holt Fieldhouse and turning the trick again with a 77-69 victory on senior day. The Eagles also ended a near decade long home losing streak to Tusculum, beating the Pioneers 78-64 before nearly 900 fans at Holt Fieldhouse. Under Benson's tutelage, sophomore stars Antoine Davis and Ish Sanders each finished the year as second team All-SAC performers. Sand-ers locked down a SAC Player of the Week honor for the week of Dec. 12 after leading the Eagles to wins over Tennessee Wesleyan and Lees-McRae. Sanders averaged 19.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting an efficient 50-percent from the field. He also had an assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly 3-to-1. Davis and Sanders both finished their junior seasons with 487 points each. Benson's Eagles finished the year ranked in the top 30 national-ly in three pointers made per game with 8.2, while Sanders ranked 34th in the nation and third in the SAC for the stat. The Eagles also took care of the ball, while forcing turnovers as well. Carson-Newman ranked second in the SAC in turnover margin for Benson's second year. The Eagles came on strong at the end of Benson's first season in 2010-11. After entering Christmas break with a 3-7 record, C-N turned things around to go 8-8 down the stretch, including five straight road wins. The Eagles turned heads by finishing the regular season in a tie 4
Carson-Newman Men's Basketball Media Guide 2014-15
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