Santa Ana Surpasses 1,000-Career Points, Elon MBB Rolls Past Central Penn

ELON, N.C. – Senior guard Steven Santa Ana surpassed the 1,000-career point mark and recorded his third-career double-double as Elon University men’s basketball rolled past Central Penn, 92-59, on Tuesday night, Nov. 27, inside Schar Center.

BOX SCORE (PDF) | HIGHLIGHTS

Santa Ana led Elon (3-4) with 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and became the 43rd player in program history reach 1,000-career points. The Phoenix has five players score in double figures against the Knights. Tyler Seibring, Nathan Priddy and Seth Fuller all scored 11 points apiece, while Sheldon Eberhardt chipped in 10 points. Additionally, Simon Wright grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds off the bench.

Central Penn (2-3) had two players in double figures, led by Tyler White’s 15 points. Ryan Lawrence added 12 points and Tyreak Woodard grabbed a team-best six rebounds for the Knights.

“I thought our players stayed locked in to what we were trying to accomplish,” said head coach Matt Matheny. “We really wanted to defend in a way where we contested Central Penn’s shots and really work hard to try and keep their field goal percentage down. I thought we did a good job staying locked into that, regardless of who was on the floor, and for 40 minutes.”

Elon’s barrage of 19 three-pointers matched its program-record performance on Nov. 15 against Milligan inside Schar Center. The Phoenix limited the Knights to just 31.8 percent shooting in the game and 26.1 percent from three.

HIGHLIGHTS
After the contest opened with the Phoenix holding a 9-8 lead the under-16 media timeout, Elon made a 14-0 run to take a 23-8 lead following Andy Pack’s three-pointer at the 12:43 mark.

Although Central Penn battled back to cut the deficit to 10 points with 8:09 remaining in the first half, yet another Phoenix surge of 20-3 until the 2:26 mark put Elon ahead 48-21 following Priddy’s triple. Elon then took a 54-28 lead into the halftime break.

Central Penn cut Elon’s lead to 21 points in the opening minutes of the second half following a layup by Randy Dupont to make the score 56-35 at the 17:32 mark. However, a 10-1 Phoenix run capped off by Federico Poser’s layup with 13:07 on the clock put Elon up by 30 points.

Elon would lead by as much as 37 points and Central Penn was only able to cut the home team’s lead to 28 in the final minutes as the maroon and gold cruised to the 92-59 victory.

NOTES
– Steven Santa Ana became the 43rd player in program history to surpass 1,000 career points. He is now at 1,007 points after his 18 against Central Penn and is 13 away from Eric Blair ’88, who has 1,020 points.
– Santa Ana notched his third-career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds against the Knights.
– Elon matched its program record of 19 three-pointers against Central Penn, a mark the Phoenix achieved on Nov. 15 against Milligan.
– Tyler Seibring now has 1,370 career points and is 17th all-time in program history. He is 11 points behind Thomas Moore ’76 who is in 16th.
– With his 11 points against Pacific, Seibring extends his double-digit scoring streak to 27 games.
– In his first-career start, Nathan Priddy recorded his second straight double digit scoring effort with 11 points against the Knights.

UP NEXT
Elon continues its stretch of five straight games at home with a matchup against Boston University on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 2 p.m. inside Schar Center.