Shooting Struggles Plague Elon Men’s BB Phoenix in Loss at CofC

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Elon men’s basketball team couldn’t overcome lengthy scoreless stretches as the Phoenix dropped a 63-44 decision to a feisty College of Charleston team at TD Arena in Saturday night Southern Conference action. Despite forcing the Cougars into 19 turnovers, Elon (8-8, 3-2) shot a season-low 23 percent from the field and struggled to handle the length of the Cougars (12-5, 4-2) on the glass.

“Obviously, we shot very poorly tonight,” Elon head coach Matt Matheny said. “Early in the game I thought we got good looks that just didn’t go down, but then we began to rush our shots. Their length and athleticism were definitely factors. Right now, I’m not sure about our mental toughness. We have to be able to be mentally tough defensively to get stops when we are struggling offensively.”

Coming off a home loss to UNCG on Thursday night, College of Charleston came out ready for battle. Adjehi Baru, who scored seven of CofC’s first nine points, finished with a game-high 18 points while also grabbing 12 boards and swatting three of CofC’s 10 blocked shots. Trent Wiedeman had a double-double for Charleston as well, scoring 10 points and pulling down 17 rebounds. CofC owned a 55-39 advantage on the glass.

Ten players scored for the Phoenix but no one managed double figures. Lucas Troutman netted nine points and collected five boards.

Elon’s scoring woes were evident from the opening tip as Charleston scored the first seven points of the contest. Even with the slow offensive start, the Phoenix did a job on the defensive side of the ball and was within two, 9-7, at the 11:41 mark.

The Cougars came out of the media timeout and scored eight straight, capped by a Wiedeman slam that brought the Charleston faithful to their feet and forced a timeout by the visitors. CofC would push its lead to 22-7 before a Troutman dunk finally halted the Phoenix drought with 5:37 to go before the half.

Despite going 2-of-23 from the field in the first 14 minutes, Elon scored 12 points in the final six minutes of the half to close the gap to 29-19 at the break. The Phoenix benefited from 10 Charleston turnovers and trailed by only 10 after shooting just 18 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, CofC struck quickly to begin the final period, outscoring Elon 14-4 to push its lead to 43-23 after Matt Sundberg sank a three-pointer at the 14:54 mark. The Phoenix would get no closer than 16 for the remainder of the game.

The Cougars connected on 24-of-60 (40 percent) for the game, making their living in the paint. CofC was 6-of-24 (25 percent) from beyond the arc but outscored Elon 32-14 under the basket. The Phoenix made just three buckets from beyond the arc, the lowest total since managing only two three-pointers against Wofford on January 9, 2010.

Even with the loss, the Phoenix remains atop the Southern Conference North Division and will look to get back in the win column when it returns to the friendly confines of Alumni Gym to host the Samford Bulldogs on Thursday, January 19 at 7 p.m.