Elon University Athletics

ELON, N.C. – Elon University men's basketball fell to North Carolina, 80-63, on Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.
 
"I thought we came here expecting to compete and win and I think you could see that –especially in the first half," head coach Mike Schrage opened. "I thought we got off to a good start on both ends of the floor to open the game. We knew it was going to be a challenge – I thought overall our defense was pretty solid and I thought we grew scoring the ball from "two" and not just "three" which has been a point of emphasis for us lately. But proud of our guys – probably the proudest I've been over a 40-minute game – and I told the guys there's no turning back, we're going forward. Once conference hits, we have a heck of a conference, so we have to keep making steps not just every game but every single day during practice."

THE RUNDOWN
- Elon came out of the gates firing, opening the contest with back-to-back made threes from Torrence Watson and Chuck Hannah to take an early 6-2 lead. Michael Graham continued the strong start for the Phoenix, dropping in a layup before throwing down a one-handed slam to push the advantage to 10-6 heading in to the first media timeout.
- With UNC leading 16-14 with 12:30 remaining before halftime, two quick scores from Darius Burford knotted things up at 18. Zac Ervin's layup put the Phoenix back on top 20-19 before five consecutive points by the Tar Heels gave them a 24-20 advantage. Elon retied the game at 24 all after Graham finished a tough put-back layup followed by a steal and slam for Burford.
- A late 7-0 run for UNC gave the Tar Heels a 31-24 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the opening half. After Hunter McIntosh's first three of the night brought the Phoenix back within four, UNC scored four quick points to push their lead to eight. Although a tough jumper from Watson got Elon as close as six in the closing minutes of the first half, UNC entered the break leading 37-29.
- With Elon trailing by 19 with just under eight minutes to play in the contest, the Phoenix used a 7-1 run to battle back to within 13. Ervin opened the spurt with his lone triple of the contest, before Watson knocked down two free throws to bring the score to 63-48. Hannah culminated the burst with his layup with 6:33 remaining to make the score 63-50.

NOTES
- Hunter McIntosh led the way for the Phoenix, dropping 16 points and two rebounds in a team-high 34 minutes. McIntosh has now scored at least 10 points in 41 career games, including five 15+ point scoring efforts through 10 games this season.
- Darius Burford added 12 points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes for Elon. Burford's four steals tonight extended his streak to four consecutive games with at least two steals.
- Torrence Watson finished the night with team-highs in rebounds (5) and assists (6), adding seven points and two steals in the contest.
- Chuck Hannah earned his first start of the season, posting seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, while Zac Ervin also logged seven points in just under 20 minutes of action,.
- Michael Graham and Andrew Junkin combined for 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks on the night.
 
UP NEXT
Elon will be back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 15, when it hosts Winthrop in a 7 p.m. matchup at Schar Center. That contest will be streamed live on FloSports.