HARRISONBURG, VA. – Elon University men's basketball outlasted James Madison, 70-66, on Thursday, Feb. 10, at the Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Va. The win completed a Phoenix season sweep over JMU and marked the first road victory for Elon this season.
 
THE RUNDOWN
- The game opened as a defensive battle, with the two sides trading stops for much of the first nine minutes of action. JMU opened the scoring with four quick points before a Darius Burford layup over two defenders got the Phoenix on the board. After a score by the Dukes gave them a 6-2 lead, Hunter McIntosh drilled his first triple of the night to bring Elon back within one. JMU added two more points on a Vado Morse layup, but Elon responded with back-to-back threes from Zac Ervin to take its first lead of the game, 11-9.
- With the score sitting at 13-12 Elon, JMU used an 8-2 run to take a 20-15 lead with just under six minutes to play before halftime. The Phoenix would once again answer the Dukes run with a quick 6-0 spurt of its own. Kris Wooten brought Elon back within two with his first triple of the night before McIntosh gave the Phoenix a 21-20 lead following his second three ball of the first half.
- A late 7-0 run by JMU saw them up 27-21 with 1:30 to play before the break but McIntosh's third three of the opening 20 minutes got the Phoenix back within three with just over a minute to play. The score also broke the 1,000-career point threshold for McIntosh, who has logged all his points in an Elon uniform. JMU entered the break leading 29-24.
- Elon stormed out of the gates early in the second half, using a 12-5 run over the first five and a half minutes to take a 36-34 lead. McIntosh opened the second half scoring with his fourth triple of the night before two free throws from Chuck Hannah cut Elon's deficit to three. After four quick points from Sam Sherry brought the score to 34-33 JMU, Ervin drained his final three of the game to put the Phoenix back on top 36-34.
- With just under six minutes remaining in the game, Hunter Woods three from the corner broke the 50-50 tie and ignited a 10-3 Elon spurt. McIntosh keyed the run, scoring five consecutive points before Hannah capped the burst with a pretty floater over the outstretched arm of a JMU defender. The run gave Elon a 60-53 advantage with three minutes remaining.
- After JMU battled back to cut the Elon lead back down to three, Burford sized up a JMU defender and drained a step-back three as the shot clock expired. The play put the Phoenix back up by six with 50 seconds left to play. Down the stretch, four free throws from McIntosh and one Wooten secured the win for Elon.

NOTES
- Hunter McIntosh led the charge for the Phoenix, dropping a season-high 23 points and four rebounds in a career-high 39 minutes, while matching a career-best with eight made free throws. McIntosh scored his 1,000^th career point in the contest, draining a triple with 1:09 remaining in the first half to move from 999 to 1,002 points. The Snellville, Ga. native became the 46^th person in program history to score at least 1,000 points in his collegiate career. The performance also marked the 16^th double-digit scoring output for the junior this season and was his fourth 20+ point game of 2021-22.
- Darius Burford added nine points and three rebounds in 20 minutes of action, while Zac Ervin chipped in nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
- Hunter Woods did a little bit of everything for Elon, scoring five points while leading the team in assists (6) and rebounds (6). His six assists also matched a career high.
- Sam Sherry continued his strong play of late, contributing eight points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field. Sherry's eight points tonight were his most since scoring nine against Randolph, as the freshman has now scored in each of his last four outings.
- Kris Wooten finished with a career-high six rebounds, adding four points in 29 minutes. Wooten also hit the game-clinching free throw in the win.
- Michael Graham and Chuck Hannah combined for 12 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks
- The Phoenix and Dukes made the same amount of field goals (22) and free throws (15) in the contest, but Elon held a 11-7 advantage in threes made.
- Elon also held advantages in total rebounds (36-29), bench points (22-4) and fast break points (7-5).
- The Phoenix now leads the Dukes in the all-time series, 10-9.
 
UP NEXT
Elon returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 12, when it travels to Towson, Md. for a matchup with Towson. That contest is slated for a 2 p.m. tip and will be streamed live on FloSports.