STOCKTON, Calif. – Elon University men's basketball's late comeback fell short as the Phoenix dropped its Tigers Thanksgiving Classic finale to host Pacific, 65-57, on Saturday night, Nov. 24, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
 
Elon (2-4) was led by Steven Santa Ana, who finished with team-highs of 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists. He was one of three Phoenix in double figures as Tyler Seibring added 14 points and Nathan Priddy tallied a career-high with 13 points. Karolis Kundrotas contributed on the glass with six rebounds of his own.
 
Pacific (5-3) got the win thanks in part to the performances from Lafayette Dorsey and Roberto Gallinat. Dorsey scored a game-high 19 points and Gillinat tallied 16 for the Tigers. Jahlil Tripp finished with a team-best eight rebounds for Pacific.
 
Santa Ana was recognized for his performance during the tournament as he earned Tigers Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team honors. He averaged 12.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and shot 46.4 percent from the floor over the three games.
 
"I think we found out quite a bit about our team this week," said head coach Matt Mathney. "We had as much fun playing and we were as competitive on the court – particularly over the last two days – as we have been in a long-long time. It's unfortunate that we didn't get to enjoy the sweet taste of victory but we grew a lot as a team and we leave this tournament very encouraged about the continued growth of this team in the near future."
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Elon jumped out to the early 6-2 advantage after three-pointers from Santa Ana and Seibring. The Phoenix then held the lead until 14-12, but Pacific responded with an 8-0 run to take a 20-14 lead at the 9:29 mark.
 
After the Tigers took a 23-16 lead at the 6:36 mark, the Phoenix used an 8-2 run over the next 1:30 to cut Pacific's lead to 25-24. Priddy's back-to-back three-pointers triggered the run and its was capped off by Santa Ana's layup with 5:05 left in the half.
 
Pacific then closed out the last five minutes of the half with an 8-2 spurt of its own to take a 33-26 lead at the break.
 
At the start of the second half, the Phoenix cut the deficit to 33-29 after Seibring drained a three at 18:22. However, the Tigers responded with an 18-4 run, which included a 6:52 scoring drought for Elon at the end of the run. Priddy then hit a jumper at the 9:05 mark to end the drought to make it a 47-35 deficit.
 
The Tigers then climbed out to its largest lead of the contest twice over the next three minutes, with its last coming at 54-37 with 6:06 remaining in the half. Elon continued to chip away at the deficit, and cut Pacific's lead to as little as five points after Seibring's layup with 32 seconds on the clock.
 
Pacific pulled back in front by nine, 63-54, with 11 seconds to go after three free throws over a 20-second span. Even though Seibring made his fourth three-pointer of the contest with three seconds remaining, Pacific held on for the 65-57 victory.
 
NOTES
- Tyler Seibring now has 1,359 career points and is 17th all-time in program history. He is 22 points behind Thomas Moore '76 who is in 16th.
- With his 14 points against Pacific, Seibring extends his double-digit scoring streak to 26 games.
- Steven Santa Ana scored 15 against the Tigers and now has 989 career points. He is 11 away from becoming the 43rd player in program history to score 1,000-career points.
- Nathan Priddy recorded his first-career double digit scoring effort with a career-high 13 points against the Tigers in 29 minutes.
- Elon committed a season-high 24 turnovers against the Tigers, which led to 28 points for Pacific.
 
UP NEXT
Elon returns home on Tuesday, Nov. 27, to face off against Central Penn at 7 p.m. inside Schar Center.