With 3:48 left in the second half and the Elon Phoenix down 43-42 to the Navy Midshipmen, freshman guard Austin Hamilton threw up a three-pointer. It hit nothing but air.

With two seconds left and the game tied at 48, Hamilton was money.

The freshman hit the game-winning shot to lead the Phoenix to a 51-48 win over Navy at Alumni Gym Saturday, notching their fourth win in a row at home.

"I kinda had to make that three," Hamilton said with a chuckle. "That next play mentality, that's what we go by. Always keep fighting in the game and good things will happen."

Elon sophomore guard Jack Isenbarger had 14 points on 6-11 shooting, and Hamilton and senior guard Drew Spradlin added nine points each to lead the Phoenix (5-2, 1-0), who shot 33% in a sloppy game.

"Navy outfought us for a good part of 40 minutes and that is what made it so close," Elon head coach Matt Matheny said. "Good teams are able to pull out victories like that and this is a very good victory for us."

Both teams shot under 30% in the first half, the Phoenix holding a 29%-27% edge. But the Phoenix came out with an energy in the second half, led by Isenbarger.

"We were a little dead coming into the second half," Isenbarger said. "I was telling the guys, let's pick it up. That's what I was looking to do more than anything, be an energy boost."

Navy sophomore forward J.J. Avila had 14 points and sophomore guard Thurgood Wynn added 11.

"This was a tough game against a well-coached team," Matheny said. " We got stops and made plays to win this game on the defensive end of the floor."

There were missed shots, passes going to no one, balls bouncing of knees and feet and some sloppy fouls on both sides. Hamilton credited the defense for keeping Elon in the game.

"Defense is our backbone," he said. "When we defend it leads to offense and transition points. Defense is what keeps us stable."

The Phoenix started the game on fire, kicking off the game with a Sebastian Koch three and leading 10-2 with 14:45 left in the first half. But Navy countered with a 9-2 run and was only down three going into halftime at 20-17. The Midshipmen tied the game less than two minutes into the second half and had the lead three times, but could not hold it.

Sophomore forward Lucas Troutman had scored two of his six points to give Elon a 48-46 lead with 49.2 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Phoenix junior forward Roger Dugas fouled Avila, who hit both free throws with 35.9 seconds left.

Hamilton took the inbounds pass, brought the ball past midcourt and held it. With about ten seconds left on the shot clock, which was .2 seconds more than the game clock, he tried to run a ball screen with Troutman and passed to Isenbarger, who bobbled the pass. Once he got control, Isenbarger found Hamilton, who nailed the bank-shot three from three feet beyond the arc.

"I had to throw it up and it went it," Hamilton said of the final play. "When I saw him look back, I thought I was the only option. I threw up a prayer."

The rising freshman Phoenix star laughed and that he does not practice that shot and that he did not call "bank."

"I am pleased with the execution in the sense that we wanted to take the last shot if possible," Matheny said. "You don't draw up a banked 3 but we put ourselves in a position to score late in the game and win the game. We were very fortunate so I'm happy with the way we executed and I'm glad it went in."

The Phoenix will take on the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro on Monday in their second conference game of the season. They defeated Furman University 77-70 in Elon Wednesday.

"It's a little earlier than normal, I know," Isenbarger said of the early conference games. "It helps to get jumpstarted a little bit, especially if we can get off to a 2-0 start"