The buzzword around the Elon University men's basketball team continues to be "aggressive." It's a word used by players and head coach Matt Matheny to describe what they want to be game in and game out.

Elon junior forward Lucas Troutman had 18 po

ints, nine rebounds and a career-high seven blocks Saturday afternoon to help the "aggressive" Phoenix defeat the Colgate University Raiders 81-72 in the first game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational Regional Games at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C.

"We’re thrilled with the victory," Matheny said. "We wish the end of the game wasn’t as close as it was, but we played aggressive and that was our number one goal coming in is that we wanted to be the aggressive team very much like Tuesday night (against Bridgewater College)."

Elon took a 41-35 lead to halftime after a back-and-forth first 20 minutes that featured nine lead changes. But the Phoenix started the second half on an 8-0 run in the first 2:12. Junior forward Ryley Beaumont's two three-pointers sandwiched a Troutman one-handed dunk to put Elon up 49-35.

"That series right there, in that little circuit, that’s huge," Troutman said. "That’s a big motivation. That gets the crowd going, that gets us going. That’s one of the things that sends cold chills down your spine."

The lead got to as much as 21 points, but the Raiders fought back, pulling to within six points with 1:23 left in the game, as the Phoenix made just one field goal in the last nine minutes of the second half.

Two things happened.

First: Junior guard Jack Isenbarger picked up his fourth foul early in the frame and played sparingly the rest of the half. Freshman guard Tanner Samson and sophomore guard Austin Hamilton spelled Isenbarger well, keeping the charging Raiders at bay enough to keep the lead, but the Phoenix shot 38.7 percent from the field in the second half.

Second: Colgate had been playing a man-to-man defense for most of the game, but switched to a zone defense about midway through the second frame that led to that low shooting percentage. That defense limited Elon shot opportunities and forced bad shots. Matheny also mentioned that his team got a little "casual."

"Because we were casual and because they changed defenses, and because we missed a couple shots that we liked, then it was like, ‘Oh no,’" Matheny said. "A weaker team, a team with less experience, would have panicked. We did not panic, we just played passive. Because we played passive, we had some empty possessions."

But Elon hit seven of eight free throws, four from Troutman, in the last two minutes to pull away for the win.

The Phoenix had four players score in double-digits. Sophomore guard Austin Hamilton had 15 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Isenbarger and freshman guard Tanner Samson chipped in 12 points each.

It was the second straight game four Elon players had ten points or more, something Hamilton was happy about.

"As a point guard, that’s what you dream of having -- shooters like Jack, Sebastian, Tanner, Ryley’s knocking down threes," he said. "We’re not all going to be making threes, but someone else can step up and hit threes, so that’s the great thing about this team that we’ve got so many weapons."

Colgate senior forward Muprhy Burnatwoski led the Raiders with 18 points and seven rebounds. Freshman guard Damian Sherman-Newsome and senior guard Mitch Rolls added in 13 points each.

The Phoenix will face the winner of Coppin State University-Florida Atlantic University tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 p.m., while Colgate will face the loser at 2 p.m. to conclude the tournament.

Game Notes

  • Burnatowski scored 13 straight points for the Raiders in the first nine minutes of the first half before picking up his second foul. He sat out the rest of the first half.
  • Elon sophomore forward Ryan Winters hobbled off the court early in the second half, clutching his left knee. Winters had surgery on that knee in the offseason and has been wearing a brace on it. Matheny said Winters was going to be fine. "All I heard right after the game was, ‘I’m going to be okay,’" he said "I just asked him, ‘How are you doing?’ We were told not to put him back in. He tweaked his knee, I guess."
  • After hitting six of seven three-pointers Tuesday night against Bridgewater for 18 points, Elon junior guard Sebastian Koch took just five shots against Colgate, making three for seven points on the night.
  • Ten players scored for Elon, eight for Colgate.