NASHVILLE, TENN. – The Elon men’s basketball team shot a
blistering 59 percent from three-point land and managed to stave off a
late-game Lipscomb rally to knock off the host Bisons, 91-86, giving coach Matt
Matheny his first win as a head coach on Saturday evening at Allen Arena.
Sophomores Drew Spradlin and Josh Bonney turned in career performances, each
surpassing the 20-point mark for the first time while wearing the maroon and
gold.
Bonney netted a team-high 24 points on 9-of-16 from the
field, while Spradlin drained 6-of-9 from long range for 24 points. Senior
forward Adam Constantine posted the third double-double of his career, scoring
15 points and leading the team with 12 rebounds. Lipscomb big men Brandon Brown and Adnan Hodzic combined for
52 points, each scoring 26 points. Point guard Josh Slater added 17
points and a game-high 13 boards.
“I couldn’t be happier or prouder of the 15 guys in our
locker room right now and the effort they gave,” commented Matheny. “Like any
team, we made mistakes, but we competed and battled out play after play and
were fortunate to come out with the win."
A one-handed follow by Constantine gave the Phoenix its
largest lead of the night at 74-61 with 5:52 remaining in the contest. The
teams traded buckets before the Bisons went on a 9-0 run to cut the Elon advantage
to four, 76-72, with under four minutes to play.
Spradlin answered on the next trip down the floor, connecting on one of his six triples to put Elon back up seven, 79-72. The lead hovered
around six points until Lipscomb’s Slater sliced the lead in half, 87-84, with
35 seconds showing on the clock. Bonney and Spradlin were perfect from the line
in the final minute as Elon closed out the win.
Elon made 57.6 percent of its field goal attempts in the
final half, connecting on 66.7 percent from downtown.
Lipscomb jumped out to a 16-7 lead behind the strength of
nine straight points by Brown to start the game. A Spradlin long ball ended the run and sparked
an 11-0 Phoenix run that included three Spradlin triples as the Phoenix took an
18-16 advantage at the 12:59 mark.
The lead changed hands seven more times in the opening half,
before a Chris Long three-pointer and a lay-in by Devan Carter gave Elon a five-point
lead, 39-34, with under three minutes remaining before the break. The Phoenix
maintained the advantage and closed out the half up three, 41-38.
The win was Elon’s first in a season opener since 2005. The
Bisons had never lost the first game of the season in Allen Arena, holding a
mark of 8-0 in season openers at Allen.
The Phoenix will have a quick turnaround as it will
challenge Charlotte on Monday night at 9:30 p.m., in the 2009 Dick’s Sporting
Goods Season Tip-Off Tournament at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
-- ELON --