ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team had three players score in double figures and used stingy defense to claim an 88-43 victory in its exhibition game against Randolph College on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Alumni Gym.
Tyler Seibring led the way with a game-high 15 points, while Dmitri Thompson added 14 and Karolis Kundrotas scored 11 for the Phoenix. In addition, Steven Santa Ana grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and Luke Eddy chipped in a team-high six assists. Leading the way for the WildCats was Ryan Fields who flirted with a double-double scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” said head coach Matt Matheny. “We came into tonight wanting to be good defensively and I think we did some good things. I thought we were jittery offensively, particularly early in the game, and I could sense that with some of the jittery passes and some uncertainty with shots. There was a lot of good things tonight but it was a typical exhibition game where we played a lot of guys, which is what we wanted to do, and we did some good things but there’s still a lot we’ve got to work on.”
HIGHLIGHTS
Elon jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game after Thompson free throw at 15:59 mark and then led by 12 after a fall-away jumper by Seibing that put the Phoenix ahead 19-7 with 9:59 left in the half.
After Jeremiah Davis drained a three at the 5:54 mark for Randolph College to make it an seven-point deficit at 24-17, the Phoenix went on a 17-7 run over final 4:56 to take a 19-point lead at half, 43-24.
The maroon and gold started the second half with a 14-6 run to take a 60-30 lead capped off by a Seibring triple at the 13:53 mark. During the run, Seibring tacked on eight points and Sheldon Eberhardt contributed with four, including a steal and a fast-break dunk with 14:50 left in the half.
Elon then mounted an 18-5 burst over the next 8:26 to take a commanding 80-37 lead with just over four minutes to play. In over seven minutes of that run, the Phoenix held Randolph College without a field goal and put the Wildcats at a scoring drought in just under four of those minutes.
The maroon and gold would then go on the complete the 88-43 exhibition victory over Randolph College.
NOTES
– Elon is now 8-0 in exhibition contests under head coach Matt Matheny.
– The Phoenix did not allow the WildCats to make a field goal in over seven minutes during the second half to take a 43-point lead.
– Elon had six players score eight or more points in the game. In addition to the three players in double figures, Eberhardt and Santa Ana tallied eight points and Brian Dawkins scored nine for the maroon and gold.
UP NEXT
The Phoenix opens the 2016-17 season on Friday, Nov. 11, against the William Peace Pacers inside Alumni Gym. The game will begin following the conclusion of the Elon volleyball match against Hofstra, which starts at 6 p.m.