Relief stitched all over his face, Elon University men’s basketball coach Matt Matheny admitted his team was fortunate to escape Alumni Gym with an 80-73 victory over the Western Carolina University Catamounts on Saturday, Feb. 16.
The Phoenix jumped out to a big second half lead, suffered through two long scoring droughts; one in each half, and was ultimately able to hold on for an important victory over a division opponent.“We’re happy,” Matheny said. “I thought we played well for a good stretch of the game. We got a good lead in the second half. It’s disappointing that we let our twelve point lead get away get away from us, but it put us in another close game and I think our players are playing well in close games. I thought we made some gutsy plays down the stretch, and then in overtime I thought we really defended [well].”
The Phoenix’s second half drought saw the team go the last 7:52 of regulation with just one field goal, allowing the Catamounts (11-16 overall, 8-7 SoCon) to battle back from 12 points down to take the lead, their first since the 17:18 mark of the first half, at 61-60 with 3:05 left in regulation.
After Elon junior guard Sebastian Koch split a pair of free throws and Catamounts junior sharpshooter Tom Tankelewicz sank his third 3-pointer in the game’s final 4 minutes, the Phoenix was able to tie the score at 64. Catamounts junior guard Trey Sumler had a chance in the game’s waning seconds, but Elon freshman guard Tanner Samson was able to contest his shot.
Matheny knows how fortunate the Phoenix were to get the game into overtime.
“Monday night, [Western Carolina] played Wofford at Western and Sumler hit a three with a minute to go,” Matheny said. “And then he hit the shot to beat Wofford, very similar to the shot he took at the end of regulation tonight. So I was concerned, I knew he was capable, I know how good he is. Tanner did a very good job defending him; I thought he contested it nicely.”
In overtime, Elon forward Ryley Beaumont took over, scoring seven of the Phoenix’s 16 points, including a driving layup to stretch Elon’s lead to 75-69 with 1:39 left.
“It’s made me happy watching (Beaumont) the past couple of games,” Elon forward Lucas Troutman said. “Especially the past two, being out, him take over the games is something that’s been just amazing and fun to watch.”
Beaumont and Troutman accounted for 37 of Elon’s 80 points while shooting a combined 13-18 from the field. That’s a trend Matheny hopes will continue moving forward.
“I think we’re taking the right shots, and we haven’t always done that,” Matheny said. “I think that’s helping our motion offense. We’re gaining confidence in motion offense and the more confidence we have, the more we trust it. So we don’t have to just shoot because we won’t get anything else. As a result, we shoot 52 percent.”
The Elon defense, which struggled to contain Tankelewicz (seven threes) and Sumler (19 points) in regulation, clamped down in overtime, allowing just nine points on 2-8 shooting. Tankelewicz went scoreless in the overtime session.
The win puts the Phoenix in the driver’s seat in the Southern Conference’s North division. The Phoenix (18-8, 11-3) hold a three game lead over second place Wofford College with just four games to play. Troutman, however, stresses the importance of staying in the now.
“It would be nice to see [a championship banner] flying,” Troutman said. “But it’s one day at a time. We worry about the next day, the next play. What happens happens, and we’re going to be the best that we can be by the time we get to the end of the regular season. We’re not going to stop working and we’re not going to stop getting better just because we may be able to win a Southern conference championship.”
Matheny echoed Troutman’s sentiment, refusing to talk specifically about a conference championship until it’s a reality.
“That is a goal of ours: We want to win a North division championship,” Matheny said. “That’s a goal, but we also want to be the best that we can be in March, and I don’t know, I guess we have to win one or two more to win the division. I’ll let you worry about the math and I’ll focus on the improvement as we move toward March.”
Troutman honored for 1,000 points
Before the game, Troutman was honored for reaching the 1,000-point plateau, an accomplishment he’s proud of, but not singularly focused on.
“It’s kind of one of those things,” Troutman said. “You’re honored and stuff like that and it’s cool to ever see something like that, but then again you know you need to take things one step at a time.”