Wofford Surges Late to Snap Elon Men’s Basketball Winning Streak

ELON, N.C. – Wofford’s Karl Cochran hit five threes down the stretch to snap Elon’s eight-game winning streak and help the Terriers down the Phoenix 63-59 on Thursday night, Feb. 27, inside Alumni Gym.

The loss marks Elon’s (18-12, 11-4 Southern Conference) first since a Jan. 25 setback at Samford. It marks the maroon and gold’s first SoCon loss at home since dropping its season finale to Davidson last season.

With the win, Wofford improves to 17-11 (11-4 SoCon) and takes possession of third place in the league standings, while Elon goes to fourth. Chattanooga moves into second. Davidson clinched the SoCon Regular Season title outright tonight and the top seed in the SoCon Tournament following a win over UNCG. The Phoenix hosts the Wildcats on Saturday night in Alumni Gym.

“In a game so close, it’s tough to overcome that many threes in succession,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “Credit to both defenses for playing well tonight. It’s hard to get a good look against them, and we made it tough for them to get a good look.”

Cochran nailed five consecutive threes over a three-minute stretch late in the second period to help his team overcome an eight-point deficit. His triple with 4:18 to play tied the game at 48-all and his fifth and final three of the second half with 2:52 left put his team up two, 52-50.

Elon managed to tie the game twice down the stretch on Ryan Winters and Kevin Blake free throws, but Wofford’s Eric Garcia connected for three in the corner near the Terriers bench to give his team a 56-54 lead with 39.8 seconds remaining.

The Terriers held on from that point forward to hand Elon its first loss in 33 days.

Lucas Troutman scored 20+ points for the third straight game following his SoCon Player of the Week award yesterday. Troutman finished with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 9-of-11 shooting at the free throw line. Troutman tied Winters with a game-high eight boards to go along with four blocks.

Elon held Wofford to 38 percent shooting, marking the team’s first loss this season when it holds the opposition below 40 percent from the field. The Terriers held the Phoenix to 38 percent shooting, including a 3-of-10 clip from long distance.

The Phoenix carried a 26-22 lead at the half after limiting Wofford to 23 percent shooting on 5-of-22 shooting. Elon’s record moves to 16-2 this season when it leads at halftime. Elon’s only other loss this season when it led at the half was Dec. 17 at Georgetown.

Elon led by as many as eight in the second half, until the Terriers surged late behind the hot hand of Cochran, who finished with 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including a 6-of-12 clip from deep.

Lee Skinner added 17 points for the Terriers, knocking down 13-of-15 at the free throw line.

The Phoenix wraps up the regular season at home on Saturday night, March 1, against Davidson for Senior Night. It marks the final home game for Troutman, Jack Isenbarger, Ryley Beaumont, Sebastian Koch and Egheosa Edomwonyi.

One thought on “Wofford Surges Late to Snap Elon Men’s Basketball Winning Streak

  1. Elon has a much better team than Wofford. Elon allowed one player to big them last night. I don’t understand the line ups that we are putting on the floor. Wofford had 4 guards on the floor while we had 3 slower big guys on the floor. Wofford was getting uncontested shots from the 3 pt line and we were not getting the paint or getting quality interior shots on the other. This coach does not know how to match up his players against the other team. Many of our wins were easy wins against some garage teams but when we are playing against the elite or better teams such as Western, Davidson or a Wofford this coach has serious problems. He is too in love with his senior class and is coaching like he has his eye on another job. Come on coach – fix your line ups on the floor and coach the team that you have and stop looking at your next job. You have too many good players sitting on your bench that you are over looking. Fix this problem before Davidson and next weeks tournament or that next job want exist and you will be facing another year with those same bench players next year.

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