Swoope Eclipses 1,000-Career Points, Elon MBB Knocks off Delaware 89-76

ELON, N.C. – Dainan Swoope became the 42nd player in Elon University men’s basketball program history to score 1,000-career points and the Phoenix defeated the Delaware Blue Hens 89-76 on Saturday night, Feb. 3, in front of another sellout crowd inside Alumni Gym.

BOX SCORE (PDF) | HIGHLIGHTS

Elon (14-11, 6-6 CAA) shot the ball 54.4 percent (31-57) from the field and 52 percent (13-25) from three-point range in the contest, while also assisting on 25 of 31 baskets en route to the win. Tyler Seibring led the scoring for the Phoenix with 24 points and also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. Swoope recorded 22 points, a game-high seven assists and five rebounds for the maroon and gold. Dmitri Thompson also finished in double figures for the Phoenix chipping in 13 points.

“We are very happy to get another CAA victory, which are very difficult and challenging to come by, and I was very happy with the way our guys started,” said head coach Matt Matheny. “A big thing we’ve talked to our team a lot about and what I think is very important is mindset, and I loved the mindset that our players had coming into the game, and I think it translated into the way we played. I think we had mistakes and we relaxed a little bit at times, but I thought we fought and I thought Delaware fought for the rest of the game and this is a good victory.”

Ryan Allen led Delaware (11-14, 4-8 CAA) on the scoring end as he finished with a game-high 26 points. Eric Carter recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Jacob Cushing tallied 19 points for the Blue Hens.

HIGHLIGHTS
The Phoenix got off to a hot start making its first five threes of the contest to lead a 17-1 run to start the game. The Blue Hens answered with an 11-4 run to cut Elon’s lead to 21-12 after Allen’s three at the 10:43 mark.

Elon’s 9-4 run over the next two minutes put the Phoenix ahead 30-16 at 7:28 after Dawkins made a layup. The maroon and gold continued its good start for the remainder of the half, holding a double-digit lead of 42-30 at the half. The Phoenix shot 54.8 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from three-point range making eight of its 14 attempts. Seibring had 17 points to lead Elon at the break.

In the second half, the Phoenix maintained its double-digit advantage until the 10:21 mark when Cushing made two free throws for Delaware to cut Elon’s lead to 60-51. The Blue Hens would make it a nine-point game once again at 62-53 with 8:45 on the clock, but Swoope came down the floor seconds later and finished a three-point play for his 1,000th career point, putting Elon ahead 65-53.

Elon then had a two and a half minute stretch of a double-digit lead until a three-pointer by Allen made it a single-digit lead for Elon, 72-63. However, Swoope answered the call again and made a layup to push the Phoenix to a 74-63 lead with just under six minutes to play.

Delaware came roaring back with an 8-2 run to slice Elon’s lead to 76-71 with 3:34 on the clock, but Karolis Kundrotas made a tough layup and Swoope made a tough fade-away three to beat the shot clock to begin a 10-2 Elon run over the next two minutes to give the Phoenix an 86-73 advantage with 57 seconds remaining.

Cushing came down the floor and drained a three to cut Elon’s lead to 86-76 with 52 seconds on the clock. After the Phoenix was able to escape the back court pressure, Swoope’s pass found Brian Dawkins, who finished with a slam dunk through contact and completed the three-point play to seal Elon’s 89-76 win.

NOTES
– Dainan Swoope became the 42nd player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark on a three-point play with 8:39 remaining. He’s the 12th Elon junior to reach the mark.
– Tyler Seibring scored in double-figures for the 13th straight contest and scored 20+ points for the second straight contest.
– Swoope finished with a team-best eighth 20-point game of the season, scoring 22 points for the Phoenix.
– The Phoenix shot the ball 54.4 percent from the floor, the sixth time Elon has shot 50 percent or higher in a game this season.
– Elon improves its home record to 8-2 in its final season inside Alumni Gym. The crowd of 1,719 was the fourth sellout inside Alumni Gym this season.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix returns home on Thursday night, Feb. 8, to face the Hofstra Pride at 7 p.m.