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ELON, N.C. – Phoenix fans stormed Robertson Court in Alumni Gym as the final horn sounded and the scoreboard glowed Elon 58, South Carolina 53. After taking an 11-point halftime advantage, the Elon men’s basketball team did not trail en route to its first-ever victory against an SEC team, handing the Gamecocks (1-1) their first loss of the young season.

“This is a great win for us to beat a BCS school,” Elon head coach Matt Matheny said. “We talk a lot about wanting to elevate this program. While this is just one victory, it gives our guys the belief that it can be done.”

A stifling defensive effort by the Phoenix (1-1) opened its home campaign in style and limited the Gamecocks to a 31.3 percent shooting percentage. Elon sophomore Lucas Troutman led a well-rounded Elon effort with a game-high 16 points while rookie Austin Hamilton gave the home crowd much to look forward to with 12 points in his first collegiate start.

“We played well enough defensively to win the game,” Matheny noted. “We need to play for 40 minutes and rely on our defense at times. When we did struggle to score, we were able to get consecutive stops. The game was won on the defensive end of the floor.”

South Carolina, who led for only three seconds in the contest, was limited to 3-of-27 from three-point land and did not connect from long range until the second half. Elon had a strong shooting performance in the opening 20 minutes, hitting 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, including three triples from junior Brett Ervin.

Malik Cook and Anthony Gill each tallied a team-high nine points for South Carolina. Damontre Harris pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds.  

After a 15-3 run to end the first half gave Elon a 34-23 lead at the break, South Carolina kept chipping into the lead and clawed within one, 45-44, with 8:55 on the clock. But with every Gamecock surge, Elon had an answer. Hamilton converted an old fashioned three-point play on the next trip down the floor and Troutman scored the next four Phoenix points to push the advantage to eight, 52-44, with 5:36 on the clock.

Elon held on to an eight-point lead when Hamilton capitalized on a tipped offensive board from Sebastian Koch with 4:58 remaining to make the score 54-46. Despite not hitting another field goal in the contest, the Phoenix defense stifled the Gamecocks as Elon held on for it first-ever win against South Carolina.

“We did a great job pressuring the ball and when you do that it makes the offense rush,” stated Hamilton. “We played great team defense and if we do that we can be competitive with anyone in the country.”

Nine different Elon players scored in the win and 41 of Elon’s 58 points were scored by freshmen or sophomores. The Phoenix shot 40 percent for the game and hit 20-of-28 from the charity stripe. South Carolina was a dismal 10-of-17 (58.8) from the foul line and held a slight edge on the glass, 40-38.

Elon will take on Rutgers-Camden in a double-header with the Phoenix women on Friday evening in Alumni Gym. The women’s team challenges Virginia Intermont at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men’s game at 8 p.m.