Langley’s Career High Helps UNCG Rally Past Elon
from www.uncgspartans.com:
ELON, N.C. – Sophomore guard Keyshaun Langley(Southwest Guilford Hig School) scored a career best 21 points to help the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men’s basketball team rally from an 11-point second half deficit to beat Elon, 71-64, in a non-conference contest at the Schar Center Saturday afternoon.
Langley(Southwest Guilford HS) fueled a closing burst in which UNCG outscored Elon, 42-24.
He led the Spartans by scoring 14 of his career-high 21 points in the final 10 minutes, 15 seconds. His fourth 3-pointer from about five feet beyond the line gave UNCG the lead for good, 62-59, with 2:43 remaining.
His career best fifth triple turned out the lights on Elon and extended UNCG’s lead to 65-59. Entering the game, Langley had made three of 27 attempts from deep. He spent extra time before and after practice working on his shooting and finding a groove.
Langley(Southwest Guilford HS) had plenty of help as the Spartans overcame a few obstacles that included foul trouble to Isaiah Miller, a cold shooting start, and a talented Elon squad to extend their winning streak to three.
Angelo Allegri contributed 14 points and Isaiah Miller added 12 points, four rebounds, and a pair of steals. Mohammed Abdulsalam grabbed a career best 11 rebounds and punctuated the victory with an emphatic blocked shot as time expired.
Quotable
Langley(Southwest Guilford HS) on his second-half performance.
“It was huge. I don’t think I played good in the first half. I missed a couple of shots here and there and turned the ball over. My teammates and coaches told me to stick with it and that’s what I did. I was able to knock down some open shots, which helped my confidence.”
UNCG head coach Wes Miller on overcoming adversity to win.
“This lets us know that we can play basketball without totally relying on Isaiah Miller. That experience was a little uncomfortable especially for me as a coach because he’s such a big part of what we do on both ends of the floor. However, it was good for our development and growth. That helped us a little bit tonight.”
Miller on what helped the Spartans offensively after trailing 40-29.
“I thought we got some energy by throwing the ball inside. That got us going. I also thought Ricco gave us a huge lift. His steal and dunk was as impactful as any play we had in this game. I was proud of him.”
Inside The Numbers
Langley(Southwest Guilford HS) was 7-for-18 shooting from the field and 5-of-12 from 3-point distance.
This is the second victory this season for UNCG when trailing by double digits at some point.
Miller moved past Kayel Locke and into seventh on the UNCG all-time scoring list after making a free throw with 16:30 remaining in the contest at 2:23 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Miller has scored 1,528 points in his sterling career total.
He also upped his career steal total to 255.
UNCG got scoring from 10 different players for the second consecutive contest.
After Langley(Southwest Guilford HS) gave the Spartans their only lead of the first, 14-13, with 9:14 remaining in the first half, Elon scored 13 of the game’s next 15 points over a five-minute stretch to open a 26-16 bulge.
UNCG was whistled for five fouls before the first media timeout.
Miller picked up two fouls before the contest was four minutes old.
Khyre Thompson collected six rebounds.
A.J. McGinnis nailed two 3-pointers. Bas Leyte finished with a plus 21 as he turned in a solid performance.
The Spartans turned 14 Elon turnovers into 18 points.
UNCG won the battle of the benches, 18-8.
Elon got 19 points to Hunter Woods and 15 from Ikenna Ndugba.
Up Next
The Spartans conclude non-conference competition when it travels across town to meet North Carolina A&T at 6 p.m. in the facility affectionately known as “Club Corbett.”