ASHEVILLE - A common cliche around NCAA tournament time, made famous by late North Carolina State University men’s basketball head coach Jim Valvano, is “survive and advance.”
They were some of the first words out of Elon University men’s basketball head coach Matt Matheny’s mouth Saturday night after his team earned a 68-61 victory over the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Spartans to move on to the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.
With the win, Elon will face No. 3 seed College of Charleston at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, after the Cougars defeated No. 6 seed Western Carolina University 78-70 Saturday night.
“We’re excited to survive and advance, and in many ways we feel like survive is the word to characterize the victory,” he said.
Let’s examine the ways in which Elon (21-10) survived.
Challenge No. 1: Withstand an early barrage from the SoCon’s leading scorer.
UNCG junior guard Trevis Simpson, who was averaging 18.8 points per game coming into the contest, hit three consecutive three-pointers early in the first half, punctuating the final with a “Booyah!” yell, to give the Spartans (9-22) their first lead at 19-17 with 10:44 left in the frame.
But Elon ran its way to a lead, going on a 14-5 run over the next 8:30 to grab a 31-24 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
Most of the came with Elon’s second-leading scorer puking behind the bench.
Challenge No. 2: Play with your second-leading scorer sick to his stomach.
After getting run into by UNCG senior guard Darrell Armstrong on a hard-charging drive and drawing a foul, Isenbarger was slow to get up and had to go behind the Elon bench with 8:18 left in the first half. In came senior guard Josh Bonney, who had been averaging 8.2 minutes of playing time per game in the regular season.
Bonney did his part, scoring four points and dishing out two assists while running the point in six minutes of playing time in the first half.
“When somebody’s out, somebody else has to step up,” said Elon junior guard Sebastian Koch. “Josh Bonney did that very well today.”
UNCG got a late three from Armstrong to pull within two at halftime, 31-29.
Elon started out the second half hot, putting up an 8-0 run in the first three minutes of the second frame to go up 39-29.
But the Spartans fought back in the second half.
Challenge No. 3: Keep a lead against a hard-charging Spartans team that came back from a double-digit halftime deficit the night before to win.
A day after being down 11 at halftime to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who they eventually defeated, UNCG got within four points three times in the second half, all in the final four minutes of action.
The first was after UNCG redshirt senior forward Kelvin McNeil dropped in a lay-up to make the score 58-55 with 3:49 left in the half. With momentum on the Spartans’ side, Isenbarger, who played just nine minutes in the second frame, hit a three-pointer a minute later to return Elon’s lead to seven points.
“(Elon) didn’t go down,” said UNCG head coach Wes Miller. “You’ve got to give them credit. I thought Isenbarger’s three at the top of the key was a back-breaking jumpshot. He’s a big-time player and he made a big-time shot.”
The Spartans pulled within four twice more, but Armstrong missed an and-one with 27.9 seconds remaining that would have made it a one-possession game. Elon then made five of six free throws in the final seconds to walk away with the victory.
UNCG was 4-of-15 from the field and 1-of-5 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes of the second half.
“I was really pleased with the looks we got in the last five minutes of the game,” Miller said. “I thought we got a lot of clean looks, they just didn’t go down.”
Challenge No. 4 for Elon: Overcome 13 turnovers and still win a SoCon Tournament game.
Normally a decent ball-handling team (11.6 turnovers per game), the Phoenix allowed the Spartans to grab nine steals, yet still walked away with the win.
“I think Greensboro does a very good job of pressuring the ball and getting their hands in passing lanes,” Matheny said. “They’re very good at it. We need to do a better job handling the ball against a team that does that.”
Koch led Elon with 15 points. Junior forwards Lucas Troutman (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Ryley Beaumont (12 points, eight rebounds) also paced the Phoenix.
Simpson led UNCG with 16 points. McNeil chipped in 10 points and six rebounds, while Armstrong scored eight points and grabbed 11 boards.
Yet again, Elon was able to pull out a close one against the Spartans. Back on Jan. 31, the Phoenix needed a clutch three from Isenbarger in the final minutes to help stave off a Spartan attack led by Simpson to get a 72-66 win in Greensboro.
“We’ve had a lot of games this year that have come down to the wire, a lot of games that have just been close for us that we had been able to pull out,” Troutman said. “That says a lot about our team, about the seniority on our team being able to step up and be able to fight through it. The guys that have come in, the younger guys that have come in and been able to step up and take a role on the team and step up.”
Bonney finished the night with eight points, three rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes off the bench for the Phoenix.
“Josh Bonney was terrific, absolutely terrific,” Matheny said.
The Phoenix played the Cougars (23-9) once in the regular season, losing a 56-54 nailbiter in Alumni Gym Dec. 1, 2012. The Cougars are 23-9 this season.