Elon MBB Upends Concordia St. Paul, 84-62

MILWAUKEE – Dainan Swoope tallied his second consecutive 20-point performance and four total Phoenix finished in double figures as Elon University men’s basketball defeated Concordia St. Paul, 84-62, on Saturday, Nov. 18, at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena at the Black & Gold Shootout.

BOX SCORE

Swoope scored 25 points after tallying a career-high tying 26 points on Friday night against FIU. The Overland Park, Kan. native also set a new career-high making six three-pointers against the Golden Bears on Saturday.

With the win, Elon (3-2) improves to 2-0 overall at the Black & Gold Shootout and will face tournament host Milwaukee tomorrow for a chance to win the tournament title. Though the game counted towards Elon’s record, the contest was an exhibition for Concordia St. Paul.

“We started with a great mentality and edge about us and we were able to maintain that for the better part of 40 minutes,” said head coach Matt Mathney. “It was the best we have flowed offensively so far in this early season and as a result we got some really good looks that we were able to knock down, and we were also consistent defensively in long stretches.”

Additionally for the Phoenix, Dmitri Thompson finished with 16 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Brian Dawkins added 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and Steven Santa Ana chipped in 10 points of his own.

Concordia St. Paul (1-2) were led by Bryndan Matthews who recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Avan Ward was the team’s leading scorer with 20 points for the Golden Bears.

HIGHLIGHTS
After the Golden Bears scored the first bucket of the game, the Phoenix made a 7-2 run to take a 10-4 lead after Thompson’s jumper at the 16:36 mark. Elon followed with an 8-4 spurt over the next 3:03 to take an 18-8 lead after a layup from Karolis Kundrotas. Dawkins made three of Elon’s first seven baskets to open the contest.

Elon continued to grow its lead and built up to a 21-point adavantage with 1:07 remaining in the half. Swoope (13), Dawkins (12), and Santa Ana (10) each scored in double figures and were a combined 7-of-14 from three after one half of play.

Concordia St. Paul would make the final two baskets of the half to make a 4-0 run and cut Elon’s lead to 50-33 at the break.

The Phoenix made 54 percent (20-37) of its shots from the floor, including 44 percent (8-18) of its shots from three in the first 20 minutes.

Dainan Swoope drained a three to open the second half to put the Phoenix ahead by 20. Elon maintained its lead by as much as 20 points up until the 15:21 mark when Swoope made another triple to put the Phoenix ahead 60-40.

The Golden Bears cut Elon’s lead 13 at 61-48 with 12:58 on the clock after Ward’s layup capped off an 8-1 run over a 1:33 span. Matthews paced the run with six points for Concordia St. Paul.

Simon Wright capped off a 10-4 Phoenix response over the next 4:40 to push Elon’s lead back up to 19 and his three-pointer with 3:25 remaining gave the Phoenix a 79-57 lead, setting the largest lead of the game for Elon.

The Golden Bears would make one more three-pointer, but Elon did not allow a Concordia field goal over the final 3:06 as the Phoenix closed out the 84-62 victory.

NOTES
– Dainan Swoope scored 25 points for the Phoenix after scoring a career-high tying 26 on Friday night against FIU.
– The Phoenix only allowed Concordia St. Paul to shoot 25 percent (5-20) from three during the contest.
– Elon made 14 three pointers in the contest and shot 37 percent from deep. Swoope set a new-career high making six triples for the Phoenix.
– The Phoenix has had at least four players finish in double-figures in four consecutive games. The only time this season Elon had less in a game was against #1 Duke on Nov. 10 when the Phoenix had three.
– Elon has now won five straight early-season tournament games dating back to the start of the NIU Thanksgiving Classic last season.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix closes out the Black & Gold Shootout on Sunday afternoon against tournament host Milwaukee. Elon will play for a chance to win the tournament title against the Panthers at 4:30 p.m. eastern time on ESPN3 and the Elon IMG Sports Network.