ELON, N.C. – Freshman Tyler Seibring drained a clutch trey with 45 seconds remaining and the team played tough defense down the stretch as the Elon University men's basketball team earned a 79-74 Thanksgiving day victory over Mount St. Mary's 79-74 on Thursday, Nov. 26 in Alumni Gym.
 
The Phoenix (3-2) open the Battle 4 Atlantis Regional Tournament with a win over Mount St. Mary's (0-5) and will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tomorrow night at 7 p.m. for the regional championship.
 
Leading the way for Elon was Luke Eddy as he scored a season-high 17 points, dished out a game-high five assists and grabbed four rebounds. Three other Phoenix scored in double-figures and Steven Santa Ana scored 13, Dainan Swoope cashed in 11 and Brain Dawkins scored 10 against the Mountaineers.
 
Mount St. Mary's were led by B.K. Ashe who notched a game-high 25 points and added five rebounds and two assists.
 
Highlights
After the Mount took an early 4-2 lead in the first two minutes, Elon mounted a 9-0 run capped off by a Christian Hariston dunk to take a 13-4 at the 15:16 mark.
 

WATCH: Christian Hairston with the emphatic dunk on the inbound pass and Elon leads 13-4! #ELONvMSM https://t.co/nDjchwzm7k

— Elon Men's Hoops (@ElonMensHoops) November 26, 2015

The Mountaineers brought the game back within four, 24-20 with 9:07 on the clock, but the Phoenix outscored the Mount 12-9 over the final 5:07 in the half to take a 38-29 lead at the half. Santa Ana led the way with 10 points heading into the break.
 
Elon started off strong within the first five minutes of the second half. The Phoenix forced a turnover and Dainan Swoope made a fast-break jumper with 15:41 on the clock to give Elon it's largest lead of the game 47-35.
 
Mount St. Mary's responded with a 14-4 run in the next 3:09 in the game to cut Elon's lead down to 51-49 with 11:57 left in the half. After back-to-back buckets by Brian Dawkins and Luke Eddy, the Mountaineers made a 14-4 run and took its first lead since the beginning of the game 65-59 at the 6:53 mark.
 
Eddy's free throws capped off an 8-4 Elon run to tie the game 69-69 with just over two minutes left in the game. Mount St. Mary's retook the lead 71-69 with a dunk, but a clutch three pointer from Tyler Seibring gave Elon the lead again with just 45 seconds left in the contest.
 

TYLER SEIBRING IS CLUTCH! Hits a three to give Elon a 72-71 lead with less than a minute left! #ELONvMSM https://t.co/fiJY3FsY1u

— Elon Men's Hoops (@ElonMensHoops) November 26, 2015

 
The Phoenix held on for the 79-74 victory after strong defense and free throw shooting down the stretch held back the Mountaineers.
 
Notes
- CAA Freshman of the Week Dainan Swoope has now scored in double-figures in all five games this season and in the first five game of his career.
- Elon had its best free throw shooting performance so far this season, shooting 79.3 percent from the strike. Eddy went 9-11 from the line in the game.
- The 17 points for Luke Eddy was his first double-digit scoring game this season. Eddy led the team in assists for the fifth consecutive game this year.
- Dmitri Thompson flirted with a double-double scoring eight points and grabbing nine rebounds.
- With his four points tonight, Tanner Samson is now eight points away from becoming Elon 39^th 1,000-point scorer in program history.

Up Next
Elon will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in tomorrow's tournament final at 7 p.m. at Alumni Gym. The Phoenix complete a three-game home swing on Monday, Nov. 30, against Kennesaw State at 7 p.m. before hitting the road to take on FIU on Friday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m.