The Elon University Phoenix men’s basketball team opened up regular season play on Friday night by defeating the Florida Atlantic University Owls 64-58 at Alumni Gym.

The Phoenix trailed the Owls for a majority of the game up until midway through the second half when sophomore guard Luke Eddy drained a 3-pointer to put Elon up 52-49.

Eddy was a bright spot for the Phoenix, making his first career start in place of injured senior guard Austin Hamilton, by being one of Elon’s leading scorers with 13 total points.

“I thought [Eddy] was very aggressive offensively,” Elon head coach Matt Matheny said. “He defended well, too. The block he had was a key play late in the game.”

Junior center Tony Sabato led the Phoenix in scoring with a career-high 14 points paired with three key rebounds in the second half. Coming off a sophomore campaign where his role was primarily a backup, Sabato is ready to step into a new role as the leader of a younger team.

“I put in a lot of work in the offseason and hard work pays off,” Sabato said.

Of the younger players, Sabato was proud of the effort put forth in the home opener, “They performed just as I knew they would,” Sabato said. “They’re going to have a big year for us and we’re counting on them.”

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Of Sabato, Matheny was satisfied with how the junior played throughout the game.

“Tony didn’t play a lot last year and we really challenged him going into the spring and summer to work hard,” Matheny said. “He got a little bit of the reward tonight from hard work.”

The Phoenix shot extremely well from the free throw line going 17-of-22.

The defense improved in the second half with the Phoenix holding Florida Atlantic to 21 points, down from its 37 in the first half.

“No adjustments were really made,” Eddy said. “We were really doing the same thing, it just started working better in the second half when the system kicked in.”

Points off the bench played a key role for Elon as well with 19 points being scored from the substitutes. This played in the Phoenix favor with the Owls only have 12 points off the bench.

Junior guard Tanner Samson resumed his efficiency at the 3-point line, converting two on three tries. Samson was on the court for a majority of the game, leading the team with 32 minutes.

Perhaps most surprising was the play of the freshmen. Matheny expressed his optimism with his team’s youth at the conclusion of the game and praised its performance against Florida Atlantic.

“What I liked most about them tonight was just that they kept playing,” he said. “Freshman don’t typically do that, they played with confidence and they have learned the system enough to know that they can stay with it. Nothing fazed them.”

The Phoenix moves to 1-0 to start the season and will square off against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Sunday at Alumni Gym.