It was perhaps the grittiest contest the Elon University men's basketball team had played this season in a year full of them.

Junior guard Jack Isenbarger hit the floor a handful of times. Their opponents, the Dartmouth College Big Green, were charged with a technical foul and a flagrant foul. Elon had four fouls called on them in one possession in the second half.

The Phoenix (6-3 overall, 1-1 Southern Conference) managed to pull out a 71-49 victory over Dartmouth Tuesday night in Alumni Gym, two days before the beginning of fall semester final exams, leaving Elon with a satisfied feeling going into an 11-day break between games.

"It’s always nice to get a win before a long break," said junior Ryley Beaumont, who picked up a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. "You don’t want to sit and think about and have the loss fester with you. We did get the win, so it’s going to feel good while we’re doing studies, that we’ve got the basketball part somewhat in order and we’re ready for the next game."

How the Phoenix got the win could be evidenced by a red scratch mark on junior forward Lucas Troutman's neck postgame. It was scrappy, with players pushing and shoving each other on the regular. It reminded players of last year's game against Darmouth, a contest the Big Green won in a simliar hard-fought game.

"They’re a physical team and they fight," Isenbarger said. "One thing (head) coach (Matt Matheny) reminded us of last year is they outfought us at their place and we wanted to make sure that that wasn’t the case. So we went out there and made sure we played harder than them. I think that’s the one thing you can control is your effort, and that’s what we did and it paid off."

The Phoenix limited Dartmouth to 27.9 percent shooting from the field, allowing just one made three-pointer from the Big Green, which came with two minutes left in regulation. Dartmouth freshman guard Alex Mitola, the Big Green's leading scorer coming into the game, had zero points on 0-of-7 shooting.

Post-game, Matheny went straight to the defense to give props.

"I think our defense, not only tonight, but for the first nine games, has been good," he said. "There’s still plenty of room to improve defensively, as well as all the other stuff. We played well defensively tonight."

But Elon was not scot-free. The Phoenix shot 35.6 percent from the field, just 20 percent from beyond the arc.

"It was a tough, physical, foul-y game and the shooting percentages of both teams were not very good," Matheny said. "It was a defensive struggle battle, unrhythmic because of that. There was no great rhythm to it."

Troutman came away with an impressive stat line, scoring 15 points, grabbing eight rebounds and notching three steals and three blocks. Isenbarger added 15 points and three assists, while sophomore guard Austin Hamilton had 11 points.

There were a couple instances in-game where emotions could have run high, as the referees called 48 fouls on the night. But Isenbarger said the Phoenix was able to manage its feelings enough to keep pressing.

"Our whole program, every guy down the line is passionate," he said. "And I think because of that there’s going to be emotion and we’re going to get upset, but we control it and Coach does a great job of leading us and make sure we don’t show emotion, especially during the game."

Matheny was pleased with how focused his team was, even with the subpar shooting percentage and scrappy play.

"I think we were really focused," he said. "The message will be: we were focused and we competed, and it doesn’t guarantee that we’ll play perfectly, and we didn’t, certainly we didn’t. But it gives you a better chance to win when you’re locked in and you’re focused and when you compete. So in that regard, I think we got better."

The Big Green was led by freshman forward Connor Boehm's 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Gabas Maldunas contributed 10 points and snagged eight boards.

Elon's next game is Dec. 15 against the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Until then, the Phoenix will take final exams and have a limited practice schedule.

Sitting at 6-3 going into that break, Isenbarger is happy with where the team is sitting.

"Definitely a good start," he said. "A lot of areas to improve in still, but I think we’re further ahead this year than we were at the same point last year. Definitely a good starting block and a good start and we’ll look to build off of it."

Game Notes

  • Elon senior forward Roger Dugas' nine-game suspension from the beginning of the season ended with this game, but Matheny is not sure of when he will return. "He had a procedure done to his knee due to soreness a couple weeks ago," he said. "So he’s actually going to be out from practice and we’re going to start working him into practice a week from now."
  • Talk about stress: Matheny said Troutman had a paper for a class due at midnight. Yet he still put together a pretty full stat line.
  • The Big Green made 45.5 percent of their free throws.
  • Elon scored 30 points in the paint and had 13 points off 12 Dartmouth turnovers.