COLUMBIA, SC -- The Ernie Nestor era of Elon Phoenix basketball began with an 84-60 defeat at the hands of the Idaho Vandals in the first round of the Guardians Classic on Monday night at the Colonial Center in Columbia, SC.
The Phoenix (0-1) struggled from the field in the first half, shooting only 33.3 percent, while the Vandals (1-0) were able to drain 47.2 percent of their shots in the first stanza en route to a 43-31 Idaho halftime lead. Elon did hit 44.4 percent of its shots in the second period to up its total shooting percentage to 38.6 on the night. Idaho finished the night hitting 43.1 percent of its shots.
Freshman Matt Nowlin led the Phoenix in scoring, netting 13 points. Rasmi Gamble (10 points) and Jackson Atoyebi (11 points) each also finished with a double-digit scoring performance for Elon. Chris Chalko paced the Phoenix in rebounding, pulling down seven boards.
Idaho's Tyrone Hayes led all scorers with 16 points, while Lionel Davis (13 points), Armend Kahrimanovic (12 points) and Anton Lyons (11 points) all had productive nights. Davis led all players with nine rebounds.
"It was a difficult game tonight. Idaho is a really good team who will have a good year," said Nestor. "Tonight we needed to compete harder then we did, but we didn't. They were more athletic than we were so we needed to get more physical. "
The Phoenix will play in Tuesday night's conoslation game at 6:00 p.m. against Gardner-Webb. The Runnin' Bulldogs were defeated 83-74 by South Carolina in Monday's second game.
-- ELON -- Game Box Score
