Box Score Coach Matheny Postgame Interview

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It came down to the wire, but the Elon University men’s basketball team clinched the Southern Conference North Division title after escaping with a 63-62 win at Samford on Thursday night, Feb. 21, at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Trailing by one with 26 seconds remaining and the clock winding down, Sebastian Koch hit a driving Ryley Beaumont on a backdoor cut toward the basket for a layup, giving Elon a 63-62 lead.
 
Following a timeout with 8.2 seconds left, Samford’s Raijon Kelly’s potential game-winning jumper from near the free throw line ricocheted off the rim as time expired, allowing the Phoenix to hold on to the victory.
 
Elon (19-8, 12-3 SoCon) clinches the North Division title with the win, its first since the 2005-06 season. The team’s 19 wins are the most since the 1989-90 season, while Elon’s 12 wins in league play are the most since the 1987-88 season.
 
“We’re very happy to come out of here with a victory tonight,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “It was a hard-fought victory and our veteran guys really stepped up when we needed it. We ran our offense and got a really good back cut play for a huge bucket and came up with a big stop against a very talented player in [Raijon] Kelly.”
 
Beaumont, who was named the SoCon Player of the Week on Tuesday, ended the night with 14 points and a career-high 14 boards for his fourth double-double this season.
 
Jack Isenbarger scored a team-high 15 points in the win, while Tanner Samson finished the evening with 11 points.
 
Elon shot 52 percent from the field as a team, while hitting 9-of-21 (43 percent) from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs shot 49 percent from the field and hit 9-of-15 (60 percent) from three.
 
Beaumont put the Phoenix ahead by 10 points early in the first half after connecting on a jumper in the paint to give his squad a 13-3 advantage, forcing Samford to call a timeout with 13:29 to play.
 
Elon led by as many as 14 points in the first session, carrying a 38-30 edge into the locker room at intermission. The Phoenix shot 67 percent from the field in the opening frame, knocking down 5-of-10 from three-point land.
 
Samford pulled within three early in the second period and forced a Phoenix timeout with 16:07 to play after a Kelly triple made it a 41-38 game. The Bulldogs took the lead for the first time with 15:03 remaining after a Tim Williams layup put Elon behind, 43-41, and completed a 16-5 run.
 
But Elon regained the lead with 12:34 to play after a Samson trey from the wing put the maroon and gold ahead, 47-46.
 
The Phoenix led by as many as six with less than six minutes to play, until Kelly gave the Bulldogs a late lead, 60-59, with 3:21 to play on a jumper near the free throw line.
 
Beaumont and Kelly traded baskets down the stretch, but it was the junior from Millersville, Md., who scored the eventual game-winner in the waning moments, giving Elon its first ever win at Samford in five tries.
 
The Phoenix returns to action on Saturday night, Feb. 23, at Chattanooga. Tip is slated for 7:30 p.m. at McKenzie Arena and the game will be aired live on ESPN3.