Elon Men’s Basketball Surges Past Belmont Abbey 84-57 in Home Opener

ELON, N.C. – Tanner Samson notched a game-high 18 points and Tyler Seibring recorded a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 10 boards, as the Elon University men’s basketball team defeated Belmont Abbey in its home opener 84-57 on Wednesday night, Nov. 18, in Alumni Gym.

In addition to solid performances from Samson and Seibring, the Phoenix (2-1) saw strong play and double-digit scoring from the bench. Steven Santa Ana tallied 17 points and Dainan Swoope added 11 as substitutes. Dmitri Thompson added 10 more for Elon. Luke Eddy let the way in the assist category with five against the Crusaders.

“You’ve got to give Belmot Abbey a lot of credit,” said head coach Matt Matheny. “Overall I was pleased with the way we played in the second half and hoped we would play the whole game like the second half. Overall for 40 minutes offensively was pretty good.”

Highlights
The Crusaders kept in close in the opening minutes, but Samson was on fire to start scoring 15 of Elon’s first 17 points and the Phoenix got out to a 20-15 lead at the 10:56 mark.

After Nick Hough hit a three pointer to get Belmont Abbey back within two at 20-18 with 10:20 left in the half, and within three, 26-23, with seven minutes on the clock. Elon created a 10-point cushion 42-32 at the half outscoring the Crusaders 16-9 in the final minutes. Samson led the way with 16 points at the break.

Belmont Abbey came out firing in the first three and a half minutes going on a 9-0 run to cut Elon’s lead 42-41 with 16:41 left. Undaunted, the Phoenix went on a 20-0 run capped off by a Thompson layup at 10:24 to give Elon a 63-41 lead.

Christian Hairston put an exclamation mark on Elon’s largest lead of the game with 4:36 remaining and he had a rim-rocking alley-oop dunk off Swoope’s pass make it 76-45 in favor of the Phoenix.

Elon would hold on to the commanding lead in the final four minutes of the game, securing the 84-57 victory in its home opener to improve to 2-1 overall for the season.

Notes
– After his 18 points tonight, senior Tanner Samson is now 18 points away from becoming Elon’s 39th 1,000-point scorer.
– Samson now stands at 252 career three pointers made, just seven away from Chris Keiger (259) from tying him for second on the all-time list.
– Elon has now won 11 consecutive home openers dating back to the 2004-05 season.
– Tyler Seibring recorded his first double-double as a Phoenix recording 12 points and 10 rebounds in his third collegiate start.
– This was the first time the two teams have met since the 1998-99 season and only the second matchup during Elon’s Division I era.
– It’s the third consecutive game this season that Luke Eddy has led the team in assists. He had five tonight against Belmont Abbey.

Up Next
The Phoenix are back on the road for another Battle 4 Atlantis mainland game on Saturday, Nov. 21, against the Syracuse Orange in the Carrier Dome. Tipoff on ESPN3 is set for 7 p.m.