WILMINGTON, N.C. – Elon University men's basketball fell to UNCW, 73-66, on Wednesday, Jan. 12, at Trask Coliseum.
 
THE RUNDOWN
- The Phoenix came out of the gates on fire, hitting its first five shots and going on a 10-4 run to open the game. Michael Graham and Darius Burford keyed the spurt, with Graham scoring Elon's first points of the game before Burford quickly contributed to the total. The two sophomores each added another score before Graham capped the early run with a tough finish over a UNCW defender.
- Less than two minutes later the Phoenix put together another 6-0 run to extend its lead to 16-9 with 12:08 remining in the first half. McIntosh ignited the burst with his first points of the night before back-to-back scores from Burford pushed Elon's lead to seven. The maroon and gold was efficient on both ends of the court to start, making eight of its first 10 shots while its defense forced six Seahawk turnovers in the first 12 minutes of play.
-With 5:36 remaining before the break, Hunter Woods pulled down a defensive rebound and threw a beautiful pass almost the length of the court to a waiting Michael Graham. Graham caught the ball and slammed it home with two hands. The play sparked a 9-3 run that gave Elon a 29-20 lead at the final media timeout of the first half.
- A pair of late free throws from Chuck Hannah and Darius Burford respectively pushed the Phoenix to a 35-29 at halftime.
- At the start of the second half, the Phoenix found its rhythm from beyond the arc. After a made layup from Graham opened the scoring, three straight triples from Hunter Woods and Kris Wooten gave Elon its first double digit lead (46-36) with 16:38 remaining.
- The Seahawks battled back on the power of a 7-0 run that closed the gap to three (46-43) with 14:10 still to play. Despite the UNCW spurt, the Phoenix quickly answered with a 9-2 run of its own. A quick score from Hannah followed by back-to-back buckets for Burford pushed Elon's lead back up to seven. Moments later, Hunter Woods drilled his third triple of the second half to help the Phoenix recapture a 10-point lead (55-45) with 10:31 remaining.
- From there, UNCW went on a 12-0 run that gave it a 57-55 lead with just under seven minutes left in the game.
- After the Seahawks took a 64-57 lead late in the contest, Burford took over for the Phoenix. He scored on consecutive possessions to bring the Phoenix within three (66-63) with 1:39 left in the contest, but UNCW answered with a three to extend their advantage back to six. Moments later, Burford snatched an offensive rebound after a Phoenix miss and drained a three of his own to bring the score to 69-66 with less than a minute to go.
- A score on its next possession sealed the 73-66 win for the UNCW.
 
NOTES
- Darius Burford led the charge for the Phoenix, matching a season-high with 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting, while grabbing four rebounds and dishing four assists in 26 minutes of action. The effort marked a team-leading tenth double-digit scoring outing for the sophomore this year. Burford has upped his scoring average to 20.7 ppg through three CAA games this season.
- Hunter Woods added 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists while shooting 4-of-6 from three-point range. His four made threes tonight set a new season-high for the junior and helped push him to his seventh 10+ point game this season and the 29^th overall in his career.
- Michael Graham finished with 12 points, five boards and three blocks in his 23 minutes on the court. Graham continued his strong start to conference play in the contest, as the sophomore is now averaging 11.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 2.7 bpg so far in CAA play. Tonight also marked the fifth time in six games that Graham has had at least 10 points and four rebounds.
- Chuck Hannah ended the night with six points and one rebounds after going 2-2 from the field and 2-2 from the charity stripe in 17 minutes.
- Kris Wooten and Torrence Watson combined for seven points and seven rebounds off the bench.
- Elon held advantages in points in the paint (28-26) and bench points (13-11).
 
UP NEXT
Elon returns home for the first time in 2022 when it hosts Towson at Schar Center on Saturday, Jan. 15. That contest is slated for a 4 p.m. tip and will be streamed live on FloSports.