BREVARD, N.C. - Brevard fell behind Carson-Newman early and never recovered in a 102-55 Eagles' win at Boshamer Gymnasium, falling victim to the Eagles' third-most accurate shooting performance of the season.
Carson-Newman (15-12, 11-10 SAC), which entered the game ranked second in Division II in field goal percentage by shooting at a blistering 51.8-percent clip, made 35 of their 55 shots to finish 63.6 percent from the field. Junior forward Sawyer Williams was 9-for-11, finishing second on the team with 19 points after coming into the evening with a career 77.1-percent shooting ledger against the Tornados (5-22, 4-17 SAC).
Brevard was led by 23 points from Miles Leathers, the eighth time this season the senior has scored at least 20 points in a contest. The rest of the Tornados' roster, however, struggled to find its shooting touch. Fred Rambert poured in 10 points, the second-best total of his career, to become the only other Tornado in double figures.
A significant offensive bright spot came in the form of Jonas Watts, a senior who had played just seven minutes in his career entering the contest. The Taylorsville, North Carolina native made his career-high four minutes count, going 2-for-5 from the floor, all from beyond the arc, to shatter his previous career scoring high.
Watts shared enthusiastic an enthusiastic high-five with Demarcus Threatt after knocking down his first career triple on a stepback from the right corner. Watts kept shooting throughout the Tornados' remaining possessions, scoring once more from the wing after running down a long ricochet off his own miss for his first career rebound.
Brevard forced 17 Eagles' turnovers while committing just 12 of their own. Miles Leathers, who entered the game 22nd among active Division II players with 162 career steals, equaled his personal best with six of Brevard's 10 takeaways.
The Eagles were paced by the South Atlantic Conference's leading scorer in Charles Clark, who finished two ticks below his season average with 20 points. He was one of five Eagles to score in double figures. Andy Barnett led all players with nine rebounds off the bench, finishing a point and one rebound shy of a double-double.
Carson-Newman opened the game by building a 27-8 lead at the midway point of the first half, well on their way to a 67.7-percent shooting performance in the first 20 minutes. The Tornados never mounted a true assault for the lead and trailed by over 40 points for much of the second half before slicing into the Eagles' advantage with Watts' hot shooting and Rambert's consecutive fastbreak layups in the closing minutes.
Brevard will return to action on Saturday, hosting Newberry in the season finale. Seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
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