So they did it.

The Elon University men's basketball team defeated Georgia Southern University in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Southern Conference Tournament.

I wrote here just over 24 hours ago that I thought it was possible, that anything could happen in the Southern Conference Tournament. That anything could go down. That it was impossible to tell what was going to happen.

But you know what happened? Elon played one of their most consistent, quiet games of the entire season. They quietly shot 53.5 percent from the field, had 26 rebounds and 13 assists (four from junior guard Josh Bonney) and beat the Eagles, a team that had come from behind to beat Elon earlier in the season.

They did not contain Eagles sophomore guard Eric Ferguson, who had 21 points and nine rebounds. However, the Phoenix did find a way to limit the Eagles to just three made shots from behind the arc out of 20 and played solid enough defense on a few possessions to keep the winning margin of seven enough for the victory.

Probably the most impressive part of the victory to me was the play of the guys running the point, sophomore guard Jack Isenbarger (18 points, hitting 9-of-9 free throws) and Bonney (season-high twenty minutes and six points, plus those four assists) off the bench, on the court until the horn sounded.

The Phoenix will need that kind of play from both Isenbarger and Bonney against Davidson College, the team they will take on in the semifinals Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN3.

Davidson drubbed the Phoenix 66-45 on Feb. 23, an ugly game for both teams. The Phoenix shot 32.1 percent from the field and made just two three-pointers, while the Wildcats hit just 37 percent of their shots and saw only four treys go through the hoop.

Ferguson was the key last game. This time around, it's sophomore forward De'Mon Brooks, the SoCon coaches' pick for the conference's Player of the Year. Brooks is averaging 15.8 points per game (fourth in the SoCon) and 6.2 rebounds per contest (10th) this season. He had 17 points and five rebounds in the Wildcats' 73-54 victory over Furman University an hour or so before Elon-Georgia Southern tipped off.

Davidson also got 17 points from both sophomore guard Chris Czerapowicz and freshman guard Tyler Kalinoski in their victory over the Paladins. Oh, and the Wildcats have the media's pick for Player of the Year, junior forward Jake Cohen, who is averaging 13.6 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game this season.

The odds are most definitely stacked against the Phoenix. But how quietly Elon played against Georgia Southern stunned me. There was not much flashy play. Normal three-ball maestro Isenbarger made just one trey all night. Georgia Southern had five dunks in the game (three in a row early in the first half), but Elon just one all night, from sophomore forward Lucas Troutman with 7:39 left in the second half.

Maybe that's how Elon defeats Davidson. Softly, quietly, sneaking into the finals of the Southern Conference Tournament.

But anything can happen. For instance, the supposedly "weak" North Division of the SoCon has three representatives in the SoCon Final Four, with division champ UNC-Greensboro and three-seed Western Carolina University squaring off in the other match-up.

As my friend Jeff Stern likes to say, we'll see.

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

ELON (#2 in North): So. G Jack Isenbarger (14.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg), Sr. G Drew Spradlin (9.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg), So. G Sebastian Koch (9.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg), So. F Ryley Beaumont (7.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg), So. F Lucas Troutman (12.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg)

DAVIDSON (#1 in South): Jr. G JP Kuhlman (11.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg), Jr. G Nik Cochran (11.1 ppg, 3.6 apg), So. G Chris Czerapowicz (10.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg), Jr. F Jake Cohen (13.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg), So. F De'Mon Brooks (15.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg)