GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Elon Phoenix held off a furious comeback attempt by the Furman Paladins to claim a 60-58 Southern Conference men’s basketball victory from Timmons Arena on Saturday evening. The win was left in doubt for a few seconds while the officials discussed whether or not a Tony Anderson three-pointer was attempted before the final buzzer. After a short debate, the officials correctly ruled that the shot was late and Elon equaled both its overall win total and SoCon victory total from a year ago.
Elon (7-9, 5-3) led for nearly the entire contest and quickly built a 6-0 lead over the first 3:02 of play. Furman would twice close to within two points, the latest coming at 8-6 following a George Brozos jumper at the 15:00 mark. From that point, the Phoenix used an 18-8 run to fashion its largest advantage of the half at 26-14 with 7:01 to go on one of three TJ Douglas treys.
Furman (2-14, 1-6) cut its deficit back to six at 33-27 on a Brozos three with 1:12 left in the stanza, but the only points scored for either team was a Brett James three from 25 feet at the buzzer which gave the Phoenix a 36-27 edge at the break.
A three-pointer from Montell Watson 4:40 into the second period put Elon up 46-31, its largest margin of the game. From there, Furman fought back and went on a 14-1 run which began with an Alex Opacic layup at 14:08 and concluded with two Tony Anderson free throws at 7:56 to pull within two at 47-45.
Elon responded with an old-fashioned three-point play from James before Furman netted the next five points to tie the game for the first time all night at 50-50 with 4:46 to play. The Paladins briefly grabbed the lead, their first of the night, when Brozos’ layup with 4:19 to go moved the score to 52-50.
A Brian Waters three off of a drive and pass from James put the Phoenix back on top with 3:46 showing. Furman immediately came down and saw Dehm hit a jumper with 3:23 left.
James drained a three on Elon’s next possession and, following a defensive rebound, came back down to see James hit a jumper to build a four-point cushion with 2:19 to play.
Elon was whistled for an intentional foul with 1:28 remaining and Bobby Austin sank both free throws to cut the score to 58-56. On the ensuing possession, Opacic knocked down a jumper to knot the score at 58-58 with just over a minute to go.
Chris Long’s lob pass to James for a layup put Elon proved to be the game-winning shot with 33 ticks to play.
Furman had chances to tie or earn the victory late. On its next time down the floor, Waters intercepted a pass and was fouled. The Phoenix got the ball in to Ola Atoyebi, Elon’s top free throw shooter, who was fouled, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Paladins raced down the floor only to see Austin miss a three with five seconds left and then Anderson’s attempt at the game-winner.
After shooting 52.0 percent during the first half of play, Elon struggled from the field in the second half, connecting on just 34.6 percent of its attempts.
James led the Phoenix with a season-high 19 points and came just one rebound shy of a double-double by tying his season-best performance with a team-leading nine rebounds. Atoyebi finished the game with 13 markers and equaled a career-best with three steals.
Opacic led all players with 20 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double.
With the victory, Elon swept the home-and-home series with Furman this season. On Dec. 1, the Phoenix earned a 66-61 victory at Alumni Gym.
Elon finished the game with 14 assists, 13 turnovers and nine steals while Furman had 12 assists, 16 turnovers and six steals. The Paladins hauled in 32 rebounds to 29 for the Phoenix.
Up next for Elon will be a Jan. 17 date with Georgia Southern. That game will be played at Alumni Gym at 7 p.m.
– ELON –
