ELON, N.C. – After scoring seven unanswered points to tie the game in the waning seconds of the first half, it looked like the Elon University men's basketball team was going to head into the locker room knotted at 39-apiece with William & Mary.
However, with 0.7 seconds left on the clock, the Tribe inbounded the ball at midcourt to junior guard Gabe Dorsey, who banked in an improbable buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Tribe a 42-39 edge going into the break, deflating the Schar Center crowd. The make marked 14 points for Dorsey and his fourth triple of the night.
Although the miracle shot might have been discouraging to the Phoenix faithful, head coach Billy Taylor said he was pleased with the way the Elon defense – in a rarely utilized man-to-man look – closed out the first, holding the Tribe to only five points in the 3:54 after the last media timeout.
Taylor said although the Phoenix started in its traditional zone, the Tribe's blistering hot 8-19 shooting from beyond the arc meant he would at least try a different look on defense.
With seven of Elon's last 11 first-half defensive possessions resulting in stops, Taylor explained that if the man-to-man coverage continued to succeed in the first four-minute segment of the second half, he planned to stick with the defense that was working.
"We'd see how we were playing, see if we were dialed in and engaged, mentally locked in, and we were," Taylor said.
Sophomore guard TK Simpkins said the man-to-man look Elon employed in the final minutes of the first half stifled the Tribe's offense. Simpkins said once he realized how effective the defense was playing, it was clear they would stick to it coming out of the break.
"We just tried to speed them up a little bit more and apply a lot of pressure," Simpkins said. "They weren't handling the pressure very well. We saw that was a point of emphasis and we just took advantage of that."
While freshman guard Nick Dorn, who according to Taylor, has the "green light to shoot it whenever he has a clean look," did have 14 points in the first half to lead Elon in scoring, it was on the other side of the ball where he shined in the second.
Dorn took the primary defensive assignment of Dorsey and said he knew doing the dirty work, such as chasing around ball screens or recovering on a switch to get back as quickly as possible in help situations. Instead of "giving [Dorsey] free looks" like he did in the first half, Dorn knew staying attached to his man would be essential for a Phoenix victory.
"More pressure on him, less buckets," Dorn said.
Dorsey – now only three makes away from the Tribe's all-time single-season three-pointer record of 102 – was held to just six points in the second half, with his last make coming at the 11:53 mark. Over the final twelve minutes the Phoenix gave him no daylight, as he did not attempt a shot for the rest of the night.
The Phoenix defense was firing on all cylinders, as William & Mary's leading scorer, Trey Moss, who averages 13.6 points per game, was held to just two points on four shots.
Needing scoring to support its defensive spark in the second half, Simpkins' dynamic playmaking gave the Phoenix an offensive boost, with 12 of his team-high 18 points and two assists coming in the second half.
"When I get down hill, I feel like it's hard to stop me," Simpkins said. "It just opens up everything for the team."
Elon's chemistry on the defensive end of the floor carried over to the team's offense in the second half as well, as Simpkins said Elon's usual "inside-out" attack – with junior forward Sam Sherry as an offensive hub – was a team effort.
"If Sam's scoring in the paint, that opens it up for the shooters, then shots open up for [Sam], and [it opens up] driving lanes," Simpkins said. "We just all play together."
Although both the offensive and defensive execution were much better in the second half, it was not until the final seven minutes that the Phoenix took the lead thanks to pairs of free throws by Simpkins and graduate student forward Zac Ervin. The 67-65 advantage marked Elon's first lead since the opening minutes of the first half.
While the Tribe was able to level the score one more time, clutch shots by Sherry gave the Phoenix some breathing room and put Elon's defense in position to close out the victory.
Taylor credited sophomore guard Max Mackinnon's composure, even in a one-and-one situation with the game on the line. Taylor said he had no doubt Mackinnon would perform at the foul line, with his makes essential in allowing the Phoenix to set their half-court defense. Ultimately, Elon held the Tribe scoreless in the last 1:28 of the contest, leading to a
76-71 victory.
Although the man-to-man look was effective in closing out on shooters, Taylor said with "a couple of defensive looks" Elon can go to, it will be a "game-by-game, situation-by-situation" decision heading into conference tournament play.
The Phoenix moves to 13-17, tying its most wins in a season since the 2019-20 team went 13-21. This squad still has two guaranteed contests left to surpass that win total. Elon's victory also clinched a winning home record for the first time in the history of the Schar Center, not counting the seasons disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Simpkins said earning the program's first winning record at Schar is just the beginning of what coach Taylor's program is working towards.
"We're taking big steps for the program," Simpkins said. "[I] feel like we're going in the right direction, the way we were supposed to be going, and we just gotta keep working. The results are gonna show."
With a nationally televised CBS Sports Network game putting the spotlight on the Elon program, Taylor said it was "really important" his team competed.
"You want to put out a good product, and I thought we did that," Taylor said. "I thought we're continuing to show that our young men play extremely hard. They compete."
With the CAA tournament less than a week away, Taylor said he is confident that his team will be ready to go for postseason play.
"We're building towards doing something in March," Taylor remarked.
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.
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