ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's basketball team opened the Billy Taylor era with an 80-55 win over Erskine on Monday night, Nov. 7, at Schar Center.
 
Torrence Watson led three players in double figures for the Phoenix (1-0) with his 16 points, tying game-high honors. Watson also paced the squad with a career-high nine rebounds while freshman Deandre Smart added 15 points off the bench in his collegiate debut.
 
"Great to get that first win and have the opportunity to get out and play in front of people and hit somebody else," said Taylor. "Everyone could obviously see our jitters, some nervousness kind of first time playing in front of people. I thought since we had played games in Italy, that our guys would be a little more relaxed and show a little more comfort towards each other. It took us a while to get going, but the fact that we were down seven or eight points in the first half and then we go into halftime up 17 and have a 25-point turnaround was great to see a response from our guys. A lot of good things defensively, but still a lot of areas for us to improve. Thankfully, it's only November. So, we'll just keep working and try to get there."
 
THE RUNDOWN
• After a Watson jumper tied the contest at 2-2, Erskine went on a 10-2 run capped off on a three-pointer by Jerome Stephens to give the Flying Fleet a 12-4 lead at the 15:07 mark in the first half. That would prove to be the largest lead of the game for Erskine.
• With the score at 14-9 in favor of Erskine, the Phoenix went on an 8-0 run to move ahead 17-14 after a pair of Sean Halloran free throws. Erskine briefly retook the lead with another three-pointer by Stephens to go ahead 19-17 with 7:08 left in the opening period.
• The Phoenix then scored 13 unanswered to take a 30-19 advantage over the ensuing four minutes capped off by a fastbreak dunk by Smart.
• A free throw by Erskine would make the score 30-21 with 2:45 left to play, but Elon would never lead in single digits again after Zac Ervin canned his third straight three-pointer to put the Phoenix ahead 33-21.
• Elon closed out the first half with a 17-point lead and led by as many as 27 points in the second period to cruise to the 80-55 win.
 
NOTES
• The Phoenix outrebounded the Flying Fleet, 49-32, and tallied 20 second chance points to only six for Erskine.
• Led by Smart, the Phoenix reserves outplayed Erskine's, scoring 31 points to 12.
• JaDun Michael had 12 points for the Phoenix on 5-of-11 shooting with six rebounds in 21 minutes of action. It was the first game back on the hardwood for the Burlington, N.C., native since playing at William & Mary on Feb. 20, 2021.
• Michael also started his first collegiate game along with Andrew Junkin. Junkin had six points with six rebounds and a career-high three block shots.
• Halloran led the Phoenix with five assists in his debut for Elon. Overall, Elon had 17 assists in the contest.
 
UP NEXT
Elon will travel to the Asheville Championship for a pair of games beginning on Friday, Nov. 11 versus ETSU at 8:30 p.m. The winner between the Phoenix and the Buccaneers will advance to the championship game of the tournament and face either Harvard or Louisiana on Sunday, Nov. 13.