Staff report

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — Catawba’s men’s basketball team jumped on Carson-Newman early and never let up.

With the Indians clicking offensively and defensively, it was 28-6 in a hurry at Holt Fieldhouse, and the highest-scoring team in the South Atlantic Conference rolled from there to an 81-64 victory.

Carson-Newman made just one field goal in the game’s first 11 minutes. Catawba led 49-21 at halftime.

Catawba doesn’t normally shoot a lot of 3-pointers, so Carson-Newman’s strategy was to pack it in and make Catawba fire away from the perimeter.

That plan didn’t work mostly because senior Jameel Taylor had a terrific day. Taylor, who had 20 of  his 26 points by halftime  was 5-for-6 from long range in the first half and shot 7-for-9 on triples for the game.

Taylor also had seven rebounds and five assists.

“We played outstanding in the first half,” Catawba coach Rob Perron said. “Jameel almost outscored them in the first half.”

Down by as many as 30 in the second half, Carson-Newman (8-5, 1-5) rallied to get back within 13 at one point, but Catawba weathered a serious cold streak that lasted eight minutes and finished the game off.

Catawba got 11 points each from Ben Zemonek, Devin Cooper and Jordan McElveen. Cooper had five assists. Zemonek had three steals.

Catawba (11-2, 4-1) had not beaten the Eagles on the road since 2011.

Mason Bates led the Eagles with 15 points.

CATAWBA (81) — Taylor 26, Cooper 11, Zemonek 11, McElveen 11, Constantine 8, Lilly 5, McLaughlin 4, Curry 3, Whitfield 2, Haskett.

CARSON-NEWMAN (64) — Bates 15, Abraham 13, Anderson 7,  Ervin 7,  Brenegan 6, Teichmann 5, Role 3, Rogers 2, Clayton 2.

Catawba                   49  32    — 81

Carson-Newman   21  43    — 64