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ELON, N.C. – A barrage of second-half three-pointers propelled the College of Charleston Cougars to an 85-67 Southern Conference victory over the host Elon Phoenix in Alumni Gym on Wednesday night. Led by Andrew Goudelock’s 34 points, South Division leader CofC (18-7, 11-2) buried 10 treys in the final period to overcome a one-point halftime deficit and win its second straight against Elon (10-15, 4-10).

The nation’s fourth-leading scorer, Goudelock knocked down 8-of-12 from long range as the Cougars shot 62 percent and outscored Elon 46-27 in the second stanza. CofC shot 52 percent for the game, 14-of-28 from beyond the arc.

The Phoenix was led by freshman Ryley Beaumont’s 11 points, all of which came in the first period. Rookies Sebastian Koch and Jack Isenbarger each added 10 points for the home team. Senior guard Chris Long racked up eight assists — he has had six or more helpers in five straight games. The teams combined for 25 three balls as Elon connected on 11-of-19 (57.9) from downtown. The Phoenix had been struggling to get the deep shots to drop as of late, shooting 27.4 percent over the previous five contests.

“I thought we played the way we wanted to in the first half,” commented Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “We pushed the ball which gave good flow to our offense. Goudelock started great; Charleston started well, but then I thought we were able to defend better and get back in the game. In the second half, some of their shots deflated us and we didn’t defend nearly as well. Because they hit such a high percentage, we weren’t able to get out and run. We have to get tougher to be our best in March.”

It was very much a tail of two halves as Elon overcame a deficit of as many as 10 points to take a 40-39 lead after 20 minutes. The Phoenix shot a blistering 70 percent from three-point land in the opening frame, knocking down 7-of-10 long balls.

With the game tied at 45 early in the second half, a Goudelock three-pointer at 17:11 was ultimately the beginning of the end for the Phoenix. Including that bucket, the next 10 of CofC’s 11 baskets came from long range. The shooting contagious, Charleston had as many triples as Elon had buckets in the second half of play.

Coupled with the Cougars’ hot hands, Elon had several scoring droughts, including one of over five minutes, that allowed CofC to put the game out of reach with a 28-8 stretch that made it 73-53 with 5:20 remaining. Elon would never get closer than 17 before the final horn.

In the first half, Goudelock scored his team’s first eight points to go up 8-1 after less than two minutes of action. Beaumont finally knocked down Elon’s first field goal, draining a three-pointer at 16:38 and Isenbarger matched him on the next possession to make it a 12-7 game with 16:06 to play.

The Phoenix managed to trim the lead to three, 15-12, at the 14:07 mark before a 13-6 run by CofC gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the half, 28-18, midway through the period.

Elon finally found its rhythm and got some stops, using a 10-2 run of its own to close the gap to two, 30-28, with 8:15 on the clock. Phoenix rookies scored 19 of Elon’s first 24 points and finished the half with 24 of the squad’s 40 points.

With CofC leading 34-31, sophomore Brett Ervin connected on a floater in the lane and then a three ball to tie the game at 36 at the 4:03 mark. Donavan Monroe made good on an old-fashioned three-point play to put Charleston back up three, 39-36, at 2:09.

Elon scored the final four points of the half and a lay-up by Drew Spradlin with 40 seconds left gave Elon its first lead of the game, 40-39. Senior forward Scott Grable nearly extended the Phoenix advantage with a tip-in on an offensive board, but the buzzer sounded just before the shot left his hands.

The Phoenix will try to break out of a five-game slump when it travels to The Citadel to challenge the Bulldogs in a Saturday night SoCon tilt. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m.