Elon MBB Narrowly Misses Upset at Mizzou

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Elon University men’s basketball team just missed pulling out yet another 19-point comeback victory, but the Phoenix could not get over the hump in a 78-73 setback at Missouri on Thursday night, Dec. 11, at Mizzou Arena.

Elon (5-4) trailed its SEC counterparts by as many as 19 points in the game, but mounted a furious second-half comeback to pull within one point on the back of sophomore guard Luke Eddy.

Down one with less than 30 seconds to play after a Kevin Blake basket, Eddy missed a pull-up jumper that would have given the Phoenix a one-point lead over the Tigers. Elon had another chance to tie it late trailing by three after a pair of Mizzou free throws, but Tanner Samson’s corner three came up just short, as the Tigers managed to escape with the victory.

Elon moves to 5-4 with the loss heading into Monday’s game with the second-ranked Duke Blue Devils.

“I thought Missouri really knocked us on our heels to start the game and we played the better part of the first half on our heels,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. “I’m really happy with the way our team responded after halftime. It wasn’t like we were gangbusters, but we played on our toes in the second half. We had some gutsy individual performances, and I thought we really hung together as a team and put ourselves in a position to be successful, but we came up short.”

Eddy finished with a career-high 27 points, going 8-of-15 from the floor and 8-of-8 from the line. Eddy also hit three crucial three-pointers to help the Phoenix pull back in the game.

Blake added 14 points and a team-best six boards on the night, while Samson was the third Phoenix player in double figures with 10.

Elon won the battle on the glass, 40-37, hauling down 19 offensive rebounds. The Phoenix dominated the paint, 26-22, against the Tigers and outscored the Mizzou bench, 37-28.

A poor shooting performance in the first 20 minutes led to a 46-27 deficit at the half, as the maroon and gold made just 8-of-33 (24 percent) of its field goal attempts. Elon ended the game at 36 percent from the floor after shooting 47 percent in the second half and outscoring Mizzou, 46-32.

Monday’s game at Duke is set for 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPNU.