Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. – A stifling Phoenix defense held the host Georgia Southern Eagles to only five second-half field goals as the Elon men’s basketball team closed the regular season with a 72-57 victory in a foul-plagued Southern Conference contest at Hanner Fieldhouse.

In a game that featured 52 fouls and 34 turnovers, Elon (13-16, 7-11) overcame a three-point halftime deficit to earn its seventh league win of the year. The win was only Elon’s third of the year when trailing at the break. The Phoenix held Georgia Southern (5-26, 1-17) to 29 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes of play, outscoring the Eagles, 43-25.

Elon clinched the No. 4 seed in the North Division for the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament. The Phoenix will face off against the South Division No. 5 seed The Citadel on Friday, March 4 in the 9:30 p.m. contest from McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Phoenix had four players in double figures with junior Drew Spradlin’s 16 points leading the way. The SoCon’s leading shot-blocker Lucas Troutman dropped 14 points and swatted four shots. Senior point guard Chris Long contributed 12 points, added four rebounds and four assists while rookie Ryley Beaumont netted 11 points and grabbed a team-best six boards. Eric Ferguson led three Eagles in double figures with 16 points and eight rebounds prior to fouling out of the contest.

After lengthy field goal droughts by the Phoenix in the first half helped Georgia Southern to a 32-29 lead at the half, Terrance Birdette nailed a three-pointer that capped an 11-1 second half start for the visitors. Elon took a 40-33 advantage at the 15:26 mark and never looked back.

Georgia Southern’s first field goal came with 13:55 on the clock and the Eagles only managed two more buckets over the next nine minutes. The fouls piled up in the rhythm-less game and the Phoenix continued to grow its lead, nailing 13-of-20 (65 percent) field goals in the last 20 minutes. A Spradlin jumper pushed the advantage to 68-50, marking Elon’s biggest lead of the night with 3:01 remaining.

“We played much better in the second half,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “We spent the whole first half trying to play well defensively, but at halftime we said we were TRYING to play, instead of just playing. I was very pleased with our effort in the second half. I thought Terrance Birdette did a fantastic job defensively, his best performance of the year despite spending much of the first half on the bench due to foul trouble.”

Elon shot at a 52 percent clip for the game, draining seven triples and 19-of-29 (65 percent) from the charity stripe. Despite the poor second half, the Eagles hit 50 percent of its field goals largely due to a 14-of-21 performance in the opening 20 minutes of action. The Phoenix had eight steals on 22 Georgia Southern turnovers, scoring 26 points off the miscues.

Beaumont got the game started on the right foot for the Phoenix, scoring nine of Elon’s first 13 points to aid in an 11-0 run that put Elon in the driver’s seat, 13-7, with five minutes gone by. Georgia Southern answered and eight straight Ferguson points put the Eagles up 17-16 after a sloppy eight minutes of action.

Elon had only two field goals over the final 11:32 but hit a few free throws to never trail by more than five points. After a Troutman freebie made it a one-point game, 30-29, with 24 ticks to go before the half, Georgia Southern’s Justin Taylor tipped in a miss at the buzzer to give the home team a 32-29 halftime edge.

The Phoenix has already managed four more victories than all of last season in this Matheny’s second year at the helm. Elon has won its first game in the Southern Conference Tournament on six of seven occasions, including an opening round victory over Davidson last year. Elon and The Citadel have met only once in the postseason tourney with Elon advancing on a 66-56 victory in the 2003-04 opening round — the Phoenix’s first year in the SoCon.