ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team won for the first time ever at Belk Arena on Thursday, Jan. 16, handing Davidson its first Southern Conference loss with an 87-85 victory in overtime.
The win marks Elon’s first at Belk Arena and it snaps Davidson’s 23-game home winning streak over league opponents. The win marks the 60th for Elon’s senior class, the most wins by a class during the school’s Division I era.
“We believed we could win and fought and fought for a great team win tonight,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “I thought we were in a good rhythm tonight and really got the right shots for the right guys. We didn’t really think about the score, except that we were down, and we really defended down the stretch to come back.”
Elon (10-8, 3-1 SoCon) trailed by 14 points late in the second half, but went on a 15-2 run over a stretch of 4:27 to send it to an extra session. Jack Isenbarger proved to be the hero yet again for the maroon and gold, as his three with 2.4 seconds left in regulation tied it at 76-all and gave Elon momentum heading into overtime.
After the Phoenix jumped out to a four-point lead in OT, Davidson (7-11, 3-1 SoCon) came back to make it a two-point game with two seconds left on a Tom Droney layup. The Wildcats managed to steal Elon’s inbound on the next possession and got a good look from Jake Belford at the potential game-tying basket, but his jumper rimmed out and Elon left Belk Arena victorious.
Lucas Troutman scored a career-high 28 points on 11-of-21 shooting to go along with a career-best 12 rebounds to pace the Phoenix. Troutman went toe-to-toe all night with Davidson’s De’Mon Brooks, who ended the night with 28 points and 10 boards before fouling out in overtime.
Isenbarger and Ryley Beaumont each scored 15 points, while Sebastian Koch and Austin Hamilton added 13 and 10, respectively. Koch also grabbed nine boards, tying a season-high mark.
Elon shot 51 percent from the field on 34-of-67 field goal attempts, knocking down 7-of-18 from three. The Phoenix went just 3-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first half, but came back to go 4-of-8 in the second half and in OT.
The Phoenix dominated the glass, 46-32, scoring 17 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds.
Elon returns to action on Saturday night, Jan. 18, when it hosts No. 15/16 UMass at 7 p.m. It marks the first time the Phoenix has hosted a nationally ranked team in Alumni Gym. The game will be a White Out and fans are encouraged to wear white to the game. The first 600 students will receive a free White Out t-shirt.