Carson-Newman puts five-game win streak versus Brevard on the line Wednesday

Carson-Newman ( 12-4, 5-3 SAC) hasn’t dropped a game to Brevard (2-16, 1-6 SAC) since Feb. 17, 2010. In the interim, the Eagles have won five in a row over the Tornados and need a sixth straight when the Eagles head to Boshamer Gymnasium Wednesday night to stay two games back of first place in the SAC standings.

The Eagles picked up an 81-62 win over the Tornados to close November with a 5-0 record.

Antoine Davis (Rustburg, Va.) poured in 20 that night, while Ish Sanders (Cleveland, Tenn.) dumped in 24, including 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.

However, what concerns Carson-Newman head basketball coach Chuck Benson is Brevard’s Dominique Pickett. The 6-1, 200 junior scored 15 points in the first meeting, but was limited to 1-for-11 shooting from three point land.

“Pickett struggled the last time, at home we don’t expect him to have that kind of night he had at our place,” Benson said. “He’s a top five scorer in this conference. At any point he could go off for 20 or 30 points.”

Pickett averages 16.6 points a contest and comes in off an 18-point outing against Anderson.

The Tornados’ roster features one junior (Pickett) and two sophomores (Gerel Simmons and Filip Gujanicic). But Benson believes that youth may work to Brevard’s advantage.

“They’ve got nothing but young players and a certain mental freedom that their playing with,” Benson said. “We’ve got to be serious and focused to take care of business because this is the kind of team that’s going to jump up and shock some people.”

The Tornados are fourth in the conference in offensive field goal percentage (44.5 percent) and have taken and made more threes in the league than everyone but Anderson and Carson-Newman.

“The truth of the matter is that they have a very unique style of play,” Benson said. “They run a Princeton style offense and a Princeton style defense. When they run that action against man-to-man defense they are very, very successful because it puts it on the individual to make one-on-one plays.”

Carson-Newman and Brevard tip at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Coverage begins on the Coca-Cola Eagle Sports Network at 7:45 p.m. with the Farm Bureau Countdown to Tipoff on ESPN Radio 106.3 The Zone (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com.