HAMPTON, Va. – The Elon University men's basketball team overcame a nine-point second-half deficit to earn an 80-74 road win at Hampton on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 27 in a CAA contest at the Hampton Convocation Center.
 
Elon (9-12, 2-6 CAA) had three players in double figures with Sam Sherry leading the way with 16 points. TK Simpkins added 15 while Max Mackinnon contributed with 14 points and a game-high seven assists.
 
The Pirates (4-17, 0-9 CAA) dropped their 12^th straight game with the loss to the Phoenix. Tedrick Wilcox Jr. had 16 points to pace Hampton followed by 15 from Kyrese Mulen. Jordan Nesbitt (14) and Jerry Deng (13) rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Pirates.
 
THE RUNDOWN
• The Pirates began the game with a 7-2 lead after a Kyrese Maxey bucket on a fast break. The Phoenix was able to tie the game at 9-9 on a three-pointer from Sherry with 16:14 left in the half.
• Elon took the lead, 12-9, after Sherry's second triple of the first half. Another three from Deandre Smart gave the Phoenix its largest lead at that point, 21-16, at the 12:36 mark.
• An ensuing 7-0 run by the Pirates gave them the lead, 23-21, after a Wilcox Jr. layup. Hampton expanded that lead to seven, 30-23, on a Mullen three-pointer, but the Phoenix came back with a 7-0 run of its own to tie the game again at 30-all on a Kendall Campbell layup at the four-minute mark.
• Hampton however closed out the first period with a 9-2 run. That would give the Pirates a 39-32 lead going into the halftime break.
• The Pirates took a nine-point lead, 45-36, after a jumper from Mullen with 18:10 left in the game. Elon erased that deficit with a 9-0 run capped off by a Simpkins dunk off a steal to tie the game at 45-45.
• Elon tied the game once again, 48-48, on a Campbell basket in the paint. The bucket started a 9-1 run for the maroon and gold as the Phoenix moved ahead 55-49 after a pair of Sherry free throws. Hampton responded to cut the Phoenix's lead to one, 58-57, after a pair of Nesbitt free throws with 8:02 left to play.
• Elon got some breathing room after Isaac Harrell hit a three-pointer with 7:36 left to play, but Hampton would tie the game up once again, 61-61, after a pair of free throws. The contest was knotted again at 63-63 with 6:13 left to play on a pair from the charity stripe by Nesbitt.
• The Phoenix retook the lead for good thanks to an ensuing 9-1 run sparked by another triple from Harrell. That put Elon ahead 72-64 after Sherry knocked down two more from the line with 3:25 remaining.
• The Pirates however trimmed their deficit to two, 76-74, after a layup with 21 seconds left to play. Elon would hang on the rest of the way by icing the game from the free throw line to take the 80-74 win.
 
NOTES
• Elon won its first true road game of the season, improving to 1-9 on the season.
• The Phoenix improved to 2-0 all-time against the Pirates with both meetings coming over the past two seasons as CAA opponents.
• Zac Ervin made was 3-of-6 from three-point range in the game, officially moving the Gate City, Va., native into the program's top-10 in career triples with 194.
• The Phoenix hit 90 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe, going 18-of-20. That's Elon's best performance at the free throw line this season.
• Harrell played a season-high 24 minutes, scoring eight points with six rebounds off the bench.
 
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will host Campbell in a rematch next Thursday, Feb. 1, at Schar Center with game time scheduled for 7 p.m. The contest will stream on FloHoops.