Roger Dugas’s lone contribution to the statistics sheet, besides a missed field goal, was an assist, but boy, was it a big one.
The Elon junior forward’s inbound pass down the court found sophomore guard Jack Isenbarger for an easy layup with 17 seconds left in double-overtime to put the winning points on the board in an intense contest as the Elon Phoenix defeated the College of Charleston Cougars 99-98 in Alumni Gym Thursday night.
“I am very proud that we as a team got a great, great victory and it’s a team victory,” Elon head coach Matt Matheny said. "I’ll tell you something else. I told the players before the game, and I believe this to be true, things are changing for the better. We are starting to play together."
The Phoenix and the Cougars had six players play 25-plus minutes each in a game that Elon senior guard Drew Spradlin called a “roller coaster of emotions.”
“It was a big game for us,” he said, “but it was more the way the game went that was just, from thinking we had it in hand, to thinking we’ve blown it, to thinking we’ve had it in hand, to thinking we’ve blown it. It was just a war. That’s what (Cougars forward Antwaine) Wiggins said to me the last tipoff. He said, ‘This is a frickin’ war.’ That’s what college basketball is about.”
The game had just two lead changes, but was tied four times, three in the two overtime periods.
Elon sophomore forward Lucas Troutman had 26 points and seven rebounds for the Phoenix despite fouling out with 3:44 left in the second overtime. Isenbarger added 25 points, six rebounds and six assists. Spradlin had 18 points and four rebounds and sophomore guard Sebastian Koch chipped in 14 points and six boards.
Guard Andrew Lawrence, who scored 32 points and added eight assists, led the Cougars. Forward Trent Wiedeman added 17 points and 17 rebounds and Wiggins chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds.
Elon stormed out to a 51-34 lead at halftime, led by a combined 33 points from Isenbarger, Spradlin and Troutman. But College of Charleston pushed back, outscoring the Phoenix 42-25 in the second half.
“We went out in the beginning and attacked,” Isenbarger said. “You gotta give them credit, they’ve got tremendous talent. You’ve gotta give them credit for fighting and playing a good ball game. We never gave up and kept fighting until the end.”
The two overtimes were as hard-fought as regulation. The first overtime was a low-scoring affair, each team getting just six points. Isenbarger, who shot 8-13 for the game, missed a contested three-pointer with about five seconds left in the first overtime to send it to a second.
But he managed eight of Elon’s 17 second-overtime points, including that final layup, to push the Phoenix to the victory.
Elon was without starting point guard Austin Hamilton, who contracted mononucleosis. Matheny said that he will miss at least a week.
Spradlin, starting in Hamilton's place for the first time since the last game these teams played, a 63-44 drubbing by the Cougars Jan. 14, was crying post-game.
“It’s a big win for us, and especially as a senior, as a captain, it’s a big win for Drew,” Isenbarger said, “one that he’ll remember for a long time. It’s always great to win a game for our team.
“Drew’s put a lot into this,” Matheny said. “He’s our lone senior and we’re trying to get over the hump. It’s very difficult to get over the hump, it’s very difficult to do better than we’ve done in the past. He’s the only guy that this is his last time around, and so there’s a lot on him. So you see him tear up, it means something to him. He laid it on the line.”
Spradlin was especially proud of Dugas and junior forward Brett Ervin, who were the post players in the second overtime after Troutman and sophomore forward Ryley Beaumont, who picked up his fifth foul with 2:53 left in the second half, fouled out.
“I can’t begin to explain how proud I am of both of them, especially Roger,” he said. “Roger didn’t play the entire game. And Roger comes in and is boxing out Trent Wiedeman on a foul shot in double overtime when we’re winning by one point. Trent Wiedeman, he’s a horse. I gotta admit, I’m thinking, ‘God, Roger’s cold, he just came in…Roger has got to get this.’ Brett plays harder and he battles his butt off. He’s had a hard time since he’s been here. He’s one of the leaders on our team. We’ve got tough guys. I couldn’t be prouder of both of them.”
Ervin played a season-high 28 minutes and coupled six points with a team-high eleven rebounds. At one point in overtime he fell after grabbing a rebound and twisted his leg, requiring some stretching. Then it happened again and he had to go to the bench limping.
It was a picture of the toughness and team unity that Matheny has been searching for all season.
"We played together at Western (Carolina University), against (the University of Tennesseee at) Chattanooga here, Samford (University) here, App State (University), even though we didn’t play well, we played tentative, but that makes a difference," he said. "We did the same thing tonight, and it made a difference. Things are changing for the better.”
After a game that went all over the place emotionally, the Phoenix had one scare at the end. After Isenbarger’s layup, Lawrence came down the court and hit a three-pointer. Elon inbounded the ball, which somehow ended up in Lawrence’s hands again. He missed a floater with two seconds left. The rebound ended up in Isenbarger’s hands. He held onto the ball until time ran out.