Hickory, N.C. ? The Lenoir-Rhyne University Men?s Basketball Team (5-17, 3-9) made it two in a row with a 73-61 win over SAC-rival Carson-Newman College (9-13, 4-7) Wednesday evening at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.? L-R junior forward D.J. Blackmon (Albemarle, N.C.) led all scorers with 23 points and became the 50th player in school history to score 1,000 points in his career.

L-R sophomore forward Jeff Thomas (Efland, N.C.) added 13 points and seven rebounds and sophomore guard Jon Hathcock (Concord, N.C.) chipped in with 12 points and six assists as L-R avenged an earlier loss to Carson-Newman.

The Eagles were led by Tray Okoth?s (Richmond, Va.) 14 points and six rebounds.

Lenoir-Rhyne, which never trailed in the game, jumped out to a 19-3 advantage culminated by a three-point play from Blackmon nine minutes into the contest and led by as many as 18 points (31-13) late in the first half.

Carson-Newman, which shot just 40 percent (23-of-58) for the game, slowly came back and cut the lead to 58-51 on lay-up by Jordan Dixon (Clinton, Tenn.) with just under five minutes left but couldn?t get any closer.

Dixon and Darron Maxtion (Huntsville, Ala.) each scored 11 points for the Eagles despite the setback.

Lenoir-Rhyne hits the road on Saturday to face Lincoln Memorial in Harrogate, Tenn., beginning at 8 p.m., in a South Atlantic Conference contest.? Carson-Newman, meanwhile, hosts league-rival Tusculum on Saturday at 8 p.m., as well.