Elon Men’s Basketball Suffers Setback at UNCW

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Elon University men’s basketball fell to the UNCW Seahawks, 87-63, on Thursday night, Feb. 15, inside Trask Coliseum.

BOX SCORE

Tyler Seibring led Elon (14-13, 6-8 CAA) with team-highs of 18 points and eight rebounds. Dainan Swoope finished in double figures with 14 points and matched a team-best with four assists. Sheldon Eberhardt also added nine points and two rebounds off the bench and Seth Fuller scored four points and matched Swoope’s team-high with four dimes.

Devontae Cacok registered a double-double with 17 points and 21 rebounds to lead UNCW (9-18, 6-9 CAA). Four total players scored in double-figures and were led by Ty Taylor’s 19 points. Jordon Talley added 15 points and Jaylen Fornes scored 13 to round out UNCW’s points leaders.

HIGHLIGHTS
UNCW shot 59 percent from the field and 65 percent from three in the first half to jump out to an 18-point lead. The contest was tight through the first five minutes as the Phoenix trailed by two, 14-12, after Swoope made a layup at the 15:43 mark.

UNCW then began its surge with a 16-4 run but Seibring’s triple ended the run and the Seahawks at a 30-19 lead with 12 minutes left in the half. The Seahawks mounted another run of 16-3 over a 4:31 span to take its largest lead of the half 46-22 with 6:55 on the clock following Bryan’s free throw. UNCW shot 70.8 percent from the floor and 75 percent from three in the first 13 minutes of the contest to jump out to as much as a 24-point advantage.

Elon answered with a 9-3 run, capped off by Santa Ana two free throws at 2:24, which cut the Seahawks’ lead to 49-31. The Seahawks then maintained its 18-point advantage and took a 54-36 lead into the break.

After the Seahawks opened the half with an 8-2 run, Eberhardt made a three-pointer to cut UNCW’s lead to 62-41 with 13:56 on the clock. UNCW then held on to its 20+-point advantage for the remainder of the contest for the 87-63 victory.

NOTES
– Tyler Seibring extended his double-digit scoring streak to 15 consecutive games with 18 against the Seahawks. He has scored in double-figures in 24 of the team’s 27 games this season.
– Dainan Swoope has now scored in double figures 18 times this season, which includes nine times in CAA play.
– The Phoenix falls to 11-8 all-time against the Seahawks and 7-3 all-time versus UNCW away from home.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix returns to action on Saturday night, Feb. 17, to take on the Delaware Blue Hens inside the Bob Carpenter Center at 7 p.m.