Elon Men’s Basketball Comes Up With 67-62 Road Win at FAU

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Elon University men’s basketball team held off a second-half surge by the Florida Atlantic Owls on Sunday, Dec. 22, hitting clutch shots down the stretch to leave FAU Arena with a 67-62 victory.

After FAU took a three-point lead with 2:43 left, Jack Isenbarger dialed up his third and final triple of the game to knot it at 60-all with 2:00 to play. On the next possession, Sebastian Koch found Tanner Samson in the corner near the Phoenix bench for three to give Elon a 63-60 lead.

It was all Elon from there, as Isenbarger hit four key free throws in the waning moments to put the game out of reach for the Owls and secure the victory for the Phoenix.

Elon closed the final 2:43 on a 10-2 run, improving to 7-6 on the year. Isenbarger scored a game- and season-high 18 points in the win.

“We’re very happy with the win,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “We played very well in the first half, but Florida Atlantic defended us pretty well in the second half. But it was a gutsy win and I’m proud of all of our players.”

Elon shot 39 percent from the field and knocked down 19-of-23 (83 percent) from the free throw line in the win. The Phoenix held a 22-20 edge on the glass at halftime, but the Owls out-rebounded Elon in the second session to finish with a 41-40 advantage.

Koch was the only other Phoenix player in double figures in the win, as the senior from Munich, Germany, scored 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. Lucas Troutman just missed a double-double with eight points and eight boards.

The Phoenix managed to pick apart the Owls’ zone defense early in the first period, as Isenbarger dialed up a three from the top of the key with 13:26 to play to give Elon a 17-6 lead.

Elon led by as many as 16 in the opening frame, taking a 40-27 lead into the locker room at intermission. The Phoenix totaled just two turnovers in the first 20 minutes, while forcing the Owls in to six. FAU ended the game with a 14-11 advantage in turnovers.

Elon saw its double-digit lead quickly evaporate early in the second session, as FAU began the final 20 minutes on a 9-0 run to make it a 40-36 game with 15:52 to play. The Phoenix did not hit a field goal attempt until a Samson triple with 12:38 to play in the second session that put Elon ahead by eight, 48-40.

The Owls made it a two-point game with 9:30 to play following a Jackson Trapp layup on his own miss to pull FAU within two, 48-46. FAU took its first lead of the game with 6:16 to play after five straight points by Trapp put Elon behind 54-53, forcing a Phoenix timeout.

After FAU took a three-point lead late in the game, Isenbarger and Samson hit back-to-back triples with less than two minutes to play to give Elon a three-point lead, 63-60, and begin a 10-2 run.

Bertone led FAU with 17 points, while Justin Raffington recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards.

Elon returns to action on Dec. 31 for a New Year’s Eve date with eighth-ranked Duke at the Greensboro Coliseum. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPNU.