Balanced Attack Leads Elon Men’s Basketball to Blowout Win Over Manchester

ELON, N.C. – Behind four players in double figures, the Elon University men’s basketball team claimed an 84-49 blowout victory over the visiting Manchester University Spartans on Monday, Dec. 31, inside Alumni Gym. The Phoenix improves to 8-5 with the victory, while Manchester drops to 4-7.

“I’m pleased with the way we competed for 40 minutes today,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “We were able to play quite a few guys in several different lineups, which was our hope coming into today’s game. As a team, we were locked in and focused on the game plan. Today was the best we’ve looked in the open court all season and I’m happy with the progress we continue to make.”

Ryley Beaumont recorded his second double-double of the season in the win with 11 points and 12 boards, while Jack Isenbarger scored a team-best 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting.

Lucas Troutman finished with 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks in the win, while Austin Hamilton ended the day with 11 points and a career-high nine assists, just missing his first career double-double.

Elon shot 51 percent from the field, including a 10-of-33 clip from three-point land. The Phoenix held the Spartans to 35 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers that led to 23 points. In all, Elon put 12 players in the scoring column, as Kevin Blake, Aaron Smith and John Moody all reached career-high scoring marks.

Elon also won the battle on the boards, 41-33, as the team improves to 3-1 on the year when outrebounding its opponent.

Ryan Winters put Elon ahead 24-8 with less than eight minutes to play in the first after Isenbarger found him underneath the basket for the up-and-under layup.

The Phoenix went ahead by 30 points with 1:03 to play after an Isenbarger fast-break layup made it a 38-8 game.

Elon went into the locker room with a 40-11 advantage after limiting the Spartans to 19 percent shooting in the first half on 5-of-27 field goal attempts. Elon connected on 17-of-36 (47 percent) from the field in the opening frame, including a 5-of-18 clip from beyond the arc. Beaumont recorded a double-double in the first half with 11 points and 10 boards.

The 11 points scored by Manchester is the lowest by an Elon opponent this season. The Phoenix held Dartmouth to 21 points on Dec. 4, the previous season low.

The Phoenix returns to Alumni Gym on Saturday, Jan. 5, for its final non-conference game of the season versus Ivy League foe Princeton. Tip is set for noon.