The men’s basketball team rolled past the Carson-Newman Eagles Wednesday night, beating them 105-56 in the teams’ first face off since 1992.
Belmont came out struggling, with Carson-Newman taking an early 7-4 lead. But the Bruins quickly recovered momentum, going on a 21-2 scoring run to take a comfortable 46-22 lead at halftime.
By the start of the second half, Belmont settled into a groove, steadily increasing its lead over Carson-Newman.
Belmont’s dominance in Wednesday’s game gave some of the younger Bruins space to shine.
Ben Sheppard led the team in scoring with 22 points, which marked a career high for the freshman. Freshman Mitch Listau and sophomore Tate Pierson also earned career scoring highs with 11 and 12 points respectively.
On top of that, Listau led the team with 8 assists, another career high.
The Eagles struggled to convert against the Bruin defense, with Belmont out-rebounding them 53-30 and Carson-Newman only averaging 29 percent in field goals and 25 percent from behind the 3-point line.
The Bruins, on the other hand, made 56 percent of their field goals — the highest percentage so far this season — and 46 percent of their 3-point shots.
Wednesday’s win was the third in a row for the Bruins, with only three non-conference games remaining before Ohio Valley Conference play kicks off at the start of 2020.
Belmont improves its record to 7-3 and will face Kennesaw State on Wednesday Dec. 18 in the Curb Event Center for the team’s last home game of 2019.
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Photos by Bronte Lebo.