ELON, N.C. – Elon University men's basketball's late rally came up just short in a narrow, 65-61, loss to Charleston on Sunday, Jan. 9, at TD Arena. The result drops the Phoenix to 1-1 in CAA play this season.

THE RUNDOWN
- Charleston came out of the gates strong, using a 16-3 run to build an early advantage. After seven straight points by the Cougars to open the game, Darius Burford got the Phoenix on the board with his and-one layup at the 16-minute mark. Charleston responded with a 9-0 run to push its lead to 13 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
- Elon answered Charleston's hot start with a 13-2 run of its own to fight back into the game. Hunter McIntosh ignited the spurt with a pretty spin move to create space from a Cougars defender before knocking down the mid-range jumper. After three quick points from the charity stripe for Michael Graham and Darius Burford, McIntosh drilled back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to four. Burford culminated the Phoenix burst with his driving layup at the 6-minute mark that brought the score to 18-16.
- With the Phoenix trailing by nine with just under a minute and a half to play before halftime, McIntosh sank another triple to get Elon within six. Moments later, McIntosh drilled his fourth three of the opening half to bring the score to 33-29 with ten seconds remaining. Two made free throws for Charleston with two seconds left gave the Cougars a 35-29 lead at the break.
- The Cougars extended their lead to 14 early in the second half following a 10-2 run coming out of the break. Despite the deficit, Elon continued to battle, using a 7-2 spurt to get back within nine. Graham was the catalyst for the Phoenix run, scoring five quick points, including a strong and-one finish at the rim. McIntosh also added two points on a burst that brought the score to 47-38 with just over 14 minutes to play.
- After Charleston pushed its lead up to 15 with 5:27 remaining in the game, a 15-2 Elon run chipped the deficit down to two. Burford and Graham starred for the Phoenix on the burst, with Burford's three at the 4:42 mark igniting the late run. Graham followed up Burford's three with back-to-back buckets in the paint then Zac Ervin drilled his second three of the game to bring the score to 61-56. Moments later, Burford made a strong move to the rim for an easy bucket before Graham's three quick points capped the run for the Phoenix. The late rally brought Elon to within 63-61 with just over 30 seconds to play in the game.
- Charleston made two free throws with three seconds remaining to secure the victory.
 
NOTES
- Hunter McIntosh led the charge for the Phoenix, dropping a season-high 22 points, including 16 in the first half, adding four rebounds and three steals in a team-high 38 minutes. McIntosh drained five threes in the contest ending his night 5-of-11 from beyond the arc. The effort marked the second straight 20-point outing for the junior and was his ninth double-figure scoring output this season.
- Darius Burford finished with 16 points, three assists and two steals in 30 minutes of action. The sophomore has now registered at least 10 points and two steals in three consecutive games and six times overall this season.
- Michael Graham added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds in his 22 minutes on the court. The outing was the third straight double-digit scoring effort by the sophomore and his seventh overall this year.  
- Elon scored 24 points in the paint and 17 points off turnovers.
- The Phoenix allowed season-lows in three-point percentage in a game (19.0) and three-point percentage in a half (0.0).
 
UP NEXT
Elon closes out its opening road trip of conference play on Wednesday, Jan. 12, when it travels to Wilmington, N.C. for a matchup with UNCW. The contest is slated for a 7 p.m. tipoff and will be streamed live on FloSports.