Elon Men’s Basketball Tops UNCG for Sixth Straight Win

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Behind another balanced night in which five players reached double figures, the Elon men’s basketball team won its sixth consecutive game following an 81-68 decision over UNCG on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Elon (16-11, 9-3 Southern Conference) has now won 10 straight games over cross-town rival UNCG (12-16, 5-8 Southern Conference).

“We’re excited to come over here and get a victory,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “Both teams started off well offensively and I thought it might be like the NBA All-Star game point wise. We had a really good stretch in the first half and finished off the first half well. We got some really good play off our bench and I think we’re really beginning to improve offensively.”

Jack Isenbarger ended the game with a team-high 17 points, knocking down 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Classmate Lucas Troutman was also a big part of Elon’s 89 percent performance (23-of-26) at the line tonight, as the Belton, S.C., went 7-for-7 at the stripe and finished with 13 points. Troutman ended the game with nine boards, finishing just shy of a double-double.

Sebastian Koch scored 15 points while Ryley Beaumont and Kevin Blake finished with 13 and 11, respectively.

Elon shot 48 percent (25-of-52) from the field and knocked down 8-of-17 (47 percent) from long distance in the win and limited UNCG to 35 percent shooting. Elon improves to 7-0 when it holds the opposition below 40 percent from the field.

Isenbarger put the Phoenix ahead 25-16 with 9:45 left in the openin frame after a steal near midcourt led to a fast-break layup, forcing a UNCG timeout.

Elon shot 52 percent in the opening frame, which included a 6-of-10 performance from three, to take a 42-31 lead at the break. The Phoenix limited the Spartans to a 1-of-8 clip from long range in the first 20 minutes and won the battle on the glass, 18-14.

After UNCG made it a four-point game with 16:11 to play in the second half, the Phoenix responded with a 9-0 run, capped off with a Koch trey, to take a 55-42 lead and force a Spartans timeout with 12:44 remaining.

Elon kept UNCG at arm’s length from there on out to secure its 10th straight win over the Spartans and its sixth straight win overall.

Entering Saturday’s game at Georgia Southern, which is a 2 p.m. tip in Statesboro, Ga., Isenbarger is four three-pointers shy of tying the Chris Kiger’s school record of 259 career triples. This season marks the third straight year Elon has won nine or more games in league play, which hasn’t been done in 26 years.