ELON, N.C.-- After a sluggish start, the Elon University Men's basketball team used a strong ending to the first half and fast start to the second to propel the Phoenix to a 74-65 win over The Citadel in Alumni Gym on Saturday, Jan. 11.
Trailing 22-20 with just under four minutes to go in the first half, Sebastian Koch caught fire, scoring 11 points over the remainder of the period in what the Phoenix call the "Big Mo Round," the final four minutes in the first half, to give Elon a 36-29 advantage going into the break.
Elon senior guard Jack Isenbarger explained the logic behind the "Big Mo Round."
"Whoever can win that last four minutes gets all the momentum going into halftime," he said. "We went into the locker room confident, playing well, playing together. That gave us a little kick-start going into the second half."
As Isenbarger said, the Phoenix had all of the momentum to start the second half, quickly jumping out on a 10-2 run to expand the lead to 46-31 in four-and-a-half minutes.
With the 15-point lead under its belt, Elon withstood a vigorous comeback effort from the Bulldogs, which pulled within 7 points four times to hang on for the victory.
In the winning effort Lucas Troutman paced Elon with 19 points and nine rebounds while Isenbarger and Koch added 15 and 14 respectively. Van Scyoc led The Citadel with 15 points and seven rebounds while Brian White added 13 points and eight rebounds.
Elon's next action will be Thursday, Jan. 16 at Davidson. The game tips off at 7 p.m. from Belk Arena.