With 9.8 seconds remaining in its Feb. 9 game against Georgia Southern University, the Elon University men’s basketball team trailed by two points.
With one heroic heave, senior guard Jack Isenbarger turned what would have been a disappointing home loss to an 11-13 Georgia Southern team into pandemonium inside Alumni Gym. Isenbarger’s shot dropped through the net, giving Elon a 60-59 lead with less than a second remaining and stretching its winning streak to four games, its longest of the season.
Alumni Gym has long been a tough place to play for Elon opponents. The buzzer-beating win improved Elon’s record to 5-0 at home in Southern Conference games this season. Incredibly, it’s been over a year since the Phoenix last lost a home game in conference to a team other than Davidson College.
It was Dec. 12, 2012, when Elon lost to the College of Charleston in Alumni Gym. The Phoenix is 12-1 at home during Southern Conference play since that game, its only loss coming against Davidson last season. On Feb. 8, the raucous Elon crowd, clad in pink in honor of breast cancer awareness, was as important as ever.
“[The crowd] was huge. It’s a great feeling to have somebody behind you like that,” senior forward Ryley Beaumont said. “Even when things aren’t going well, to have someone pick you back up over and over again – to have a force that’s loud and really fills the gym like that, it feels good.”
Forced to play without leading scorer and senior forward Lucas Troutman, Beaumont and others stepped up underneath for Elon. In all, nine different players scored for the Phoenix against Georgia Southern, but shooting was a struggle the entire night. Elon shot just 33.3 percent from the field and 21.2 percent from three-point range, and was mired in a 9 of 32 shooting slump in the second half.
The Phoenix was coming off a Feb. 6 performance in which the team made just 2 of its 20 attempted three-pointers against the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Against Georgia Southern, it was not much better, but for Elon head coach Matt Matheny, all that matters is that a victory was the end result.
“We feel very fortunate to have won,” said Matheny. “We competed the entire game. I don’t think there was any quit or give up in our players. To me, that’s a sign of a team that’s growing and getting better.”
With six games left on the SoCon slate, Elon has its longest winning streak of the season. The current four-game stretch has come against four teams ranked below them in the conference, but the Phoenix has won three of those games by just seven points or less.
Elon will play three of its next four games on the road, all against opponents in the bottom half of the SoCon standings. After that stretch, the Phoenix will close out the regular season with a pair of home games against Wofford College and Davidson, which currently stand third and first, respectively, in the league.
Elon’s four-game winning streak has not been the prettiest stretch of basketball this season, but the team will take it. They are well aware that they could have easily lost to both UNCG and Georgia Southern.
“It feels good, but at least in my point of view, we didn’t play that well,” said Beaumont following the Georgia Southern game. “It feels good because we won, but we could easily be in that locker room with our heads down not happy with that game, so there are things we have to look at and get better at.”
Going down the stretch of the SoCon season, Elon is sure to be battling in close games like they have in their last three. But the Phoenix can rest easy knowing they have a tested senior in Isenbarger to take the last shot. He also made a three-pointer from the top of the key with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime against Davidson Jan. 16.
When asked if he wanted the ball in that situation, down two points with 9.8 seconds left, Isenbarger was as confident as ever with his answer.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Every basketball player dreams of taking those shots as a little kid and every basketball player at this level wants the ball in his hands.”
Isenbarger’s confidence guided Elon to victory against Georgia Southern. And his buzzer-beating shot played a small part in that victory, too.
The Phoenix looks like a battle-tested team, having just won without its leading scorer and rebounder. After the win, the team’s fourth straight, Elon sounded like a team overflowing with confidence, ready to keep the good times rolling.