BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS

BALTIMORE – Freshman guard Terrell Allen's jumper in the lane with 25.1 seconds to play capped a late 6-1 Drexel scoring run and gave the Dragons a 57-56 victory over Elon Friday in the opening game of the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship at Royal Farms Arena on Friday, March 4.
 
Ninth-seeded Drexel raised its record to 6-24 and advances to a noon Saturday tournament quarterfinal meeting with top-seeded Hofstra.  Eighth-seeded Elon fell to 16-16 overall.
 
The Dragons, who had leads of 18-2 and 29-12 during the opening half, fell behind 55-51 with 5:51 remaining before holding Elon without a field goal and to a single made free throw the rest of the way.  Drexel had gotten possession for the decisive points on an offensive team rebound out of bounds under its basket with 37.1 seconds left, and Allen connected on a contested shot from the right side of the lane.
 
Elon called consecutive timeouts with 13 seconds left, but junior guard Luke Eddy's shot with eight seconds remaining missed and Drexel sophomore guard Sammy Mojica rebounded.
 
Drexel got a free throw from junior forward Rodney Williams to pull to within 55-52 with 3:43 left, a layup off a rebound from graduate forward Kazembe Abif with 2:49 left to get to within 55-54, and an Abif free throw at 1:51 to pull into a 55-55 tie.  Eddy hit the second of two free throws with 56.5 seconds to play for Elon's final advantage.
 
Terrell Allen's game-winning field goal gave him 11 points for the game and allowed him to join senior guard Tavon Allen in double figures in scoring for Drexel.  Tavon Allen finished with a game-high 17 points after sparking the Dragons to their big early lead with four three-point field goals.  Tavon Allen hit on four of six three-point attempts during the opening half with his fourth connection from long range giving the Dragons their 29-12 edge at the 7:14 mark.
 
Drexel led 34-21 at halftime after shooting 47.8 percent (11-23) during the first period to Elon's 34.5 percent (10-29) and had been up 10-0 and had gotten scoring from five players while taking an 18-2 by the 13:04 mark of the opening half.
 
Six Elon players had points as the Phoenix outscored Drexel 23-9 to start the second half and take their first lead, 44-43, on freshman guard Steven Santa Ana's three-point field goal with 11:20 to play.  Drexel rallied to lead 49-44 with 9:47 left on Tavon Allen's fifth three-pointer of the game, but Elon answered with an 11-2 burst for its 55-51 margin.  Eddy started the 11-2 run with a field goal at 9:34; freshman forward Tyler Seibring's three-pointer gave Elon a 53-51 lead with 6:24 to play; and Eddy scored inside for the 55-51 Phoenix margin.
 
Drexel shot 41.7 percent (20-48) overall and 46.2 percent from three-point range (6-13) but committed 15 turnovers to only seven by Elon.
 
Eddy led Elon with 11 points on five-of-nine shooting and was his team's only double-figure scorer.  The Phoenix finished with a 39.6 percent shooting mark (21-53), including 28.6 percent from three-point range (4-14).