Balanced Attack Leads Elon Men’s Basketball to Victory Over Samford

ELON, N.C. – Five players scored in double figures to lead the Elon men’s basketball team to an 86-69 victory over the visiting Samford Bulldogs on Saturday night, Feb. 15, inside a sold out Alumni Gym.

Winners of five straight, Elon improves to 15-11 (8-3 Southern Conference) with the win.

“I thought we played with a bounce in our step tonight and played aggressive defensively,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “We were on our toes offensively and really attacked. We played well as a team and really stuck together.”

Lucas Troutman notched his eighth career double-double with 16 points and 10 boards to pace the maroon and gold. Troutman also registered three blocked shots, putting him at 200 in his career. Troutman also moved ahead of former Davidson standout forward Jake Cohen for seventh all-time in Southern Conference history in career blocks.

Three-point snipers Sebastian Koch and Jack Isenbarger added 17 points apiece for Elon, knocking down a combined 6-of-14 from long range. As a team, the Phoenix ended the night 10-of-22 from three, marking the 10th time this season the team has connected on 10 or more triples in a game.

Kevin Blake added 10 points for Elon on 4-of-7 shooting, including a pair of monster dunks. Elon is now 5-0 with Blake in the starting lineup this season.

As a team, the Phoenix shot 53 percent (31-of-58) from the field, marking the 11th time this year the team has shot 50 percent or better in a game (10-1 in those games).

Both squads took care of the ball in the game, as the Bulldogs held a slim 7-6 edge in the turnover battle. Elon outrebounded Samford 35-30 in the win, improving to 9-2 when it outrebounds the opposition.

The Phoenix played well at both ends of the floor to carry an 11-point lead, 43-32, into the locker room at intermission. Elon knocked down 50 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and limited Samford to 39 percent shooting to take a double-digit lead.

Samford was forced to call a timeout with 11:24 left in the second half after Beaumont reeled off five straight Phoenix points to put his team up 63-54. Beaumont connected on a triple from the top of the key and scored on an easy layup to give Elon momentum and put the Alumni Gym faithful on their feet.

Williams managed to cut Elon’s lead to five with 7:50 to play after tripling from the wing to make it a 66-61 game, but the Phoenix put its foot on the gas from that point forward, surging with a 12-4 run to take a 78-65 lead with less than four minutes to play.

Elon kept Samford at arm’s length from there to secure its fifth straight win, improving to 11-2 at home this year. Tonight’s sellout crowd marked the 12th under Matheny.

Elon’s next game is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19, at UNCG. Tip is slated for 7 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum.