ELON – It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but Elon University found a way to win.
In a poor shooting night for both teams, the Phoenix had to rely on its defense to seal what became a 72-66 victory over the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Elon made just 2 of 20 three-point attempts and none in the second half, finishing the night at a 40.3 percent clip (25 of 62) from the field. On the other hand, UNCG was just 23 of 64 (35.9 percent) from the field and 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) from beyond the arc.
“We didn’t have an A-game offensively, but a lot of credit goes to the way they defended us,” Elon coach Matt Matheny said. “Thank goodness we defended well tonight. We pulled this victory out for two reasons: because we defended for 40 minutes, not perfectly…but for the better part of 40 minutes we guarded well, and that was one of our better rebounding performances.”
The UNCG style of defense pressured the perimeter and the Elon guards, holding starting point guard and senior Jack Isenbarger to eight points on 3 of 11 shooting. The Spartans forced 13 turnovers but only scored seven points off of them.
After UNCG took a 12-10 lead with 13:20 in the first half, the Phoenix ensued on a 10-2 run to pull ahead. Elon led by as much as 14 in the first half and held a 35-25 advantage at the break. Junior guard Kevin Blake continued his aggressive style of play, attacking the rim for six points in the first four minutes of play.
“Kevin has added a spice to us both offensively and defensively,” Matheny said. “He had some really good rebounds tonight. He’s different from Tanner, different Sebastian, different from Jack. Spice is the word, he’s really spiced things up.”
UNCG opened the second half on a 17-4 run to claw back and take a 44-41 lead with 12:26 in the second half. The Spartans held Elon to 2 of 15 shooting to begin the half and without a field goal for more than seven minutes at one point.
“At halftime, I challenged them to do a little bit better job on the backboards,” UNCG coach Wes Miller said. “I was pleased with the shots we got in the second half, we just didn’t make them. I don’t think anything happened different in the second half. The ball went in a little bit.”
“We finally put together a possession of a stop on one end with a basket on the other end, and that gave us some momentum and some positive energy and we were able to put together a run,” Miller added.
Redshirt junior and Arizona State University transfer Kyle Cain scored six straight points at one point, and a traditional three-point play by freshman forward Tyrone Outlaw gave the Spartans the lead, and seemingly the momentum.
Isenbarger sank a jumper to cut the lead to one, and Blake stole the inbounds pass and made a layup, drawing a foul on the play. He sank the free throw, and the tides were turned.
“When they took the lead, we brought together a huddle…saying let’s pick it up,” Elon senior forward Ryley Beaumont said. “We have to play harder on defense. We have to get the stops.”
UNCG cut the lead back to 50-46 shortly after, but then went nearly six minutes without a field goal and trailed by as much as nine.
“The three-point play really hurt us,” Miller said. “That was really our fault. You have to give Elon credit for taking advantage of a bad mistake. I thought that really kind of got them going after we had made a run to take the lead.”
The Spartans did not go away, using a three-pointer by junior guard Nicholas Paulos and a pair of free throws by freshman guard Tevon Saddler to come within three at 62-59 with 1:08 to go and again at 64-61 with 35 seconds remaining. The Phoenix made all six of its free throws in the final minute to hold on for the win.
Beaumont surpassed the 1,000-point plateau late in the first half and led Elon with 14 points on the night. He becomes the fourth Phoenix player with more than 1,000 career points, joining Isenbarger and fellow seniors Sebastian Koch and Lucas Troutman.
“I think it’s something really special that four of us could get that goal,” Beaumont said. “The fact that we came in together as a class and it’s all four us just solidifies a bond that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.”
Troutman and Blake each finished with 13 points while Koch added 11. Saddler and Cain both posted 16 points for UNCG.
The win keeps Elon afloat in the hunt for a Southern Conference regular season title, improving to 13-11 overall and 6-3 in the league. This marks three straight victories following a loss at Samford University Jan. 25. Next on the slate is a home game against Georgia Southern University at 7 p.m. Feb. 8.
“We’re trying to play our best basketball now that it’s February as we get closer to March,” Matheny said. “To be able to get a victory when we didn’t shoot the ball well against a good defensive team keeps this thing rolling a little bit.”