With the nostalgic senior night vibes in the air, the anticipated finale for the four Elon University men’s basketball seniors in Alumni Gym was rather anticlimactic.
Facing top dog Davidson College in a rematch of the overtime thriller Jan. 16 won by Elon, the Phoenix had trouble from the get-go with the athletic, physical Wildcats and fell by an 86-69 margin in front of 1,871 fans.
Celebrating the accomplishments of seniors Jack Isenbarger, Sebastian Koch, Ryley Beaumont and Lucas Troutman, Elon was unable to send off the “Core Four” in style from their final stay at Alumni Gym.
“Definitely a disappointment,” Isenbarger said.
Beaumont echoed how difficult it was to stay positive.
“Hopefully it’ll instill a mentality, a festering wound that we’ll think about up until and through these conference games. This feeling, remember it,” Beaumont said.
It was Elon’s fifth game in the span of 11 days dating back to Feb. 19. On the other side, Davidson earns its twelfth straight win since losing to Elon.
“In many ways, it was a disappointing performance for us,” Elon coach Matt Matheny said. “Tonight had the makings of a very special night. It’s a disappointing loss because it is senior night and we have such a tremendous senior class. Davidson was really good. They made us pay for mistakes we made.”
Coupled with a loss at home to Wofford College Feb. 27 and a handful of various Southern Conference results, Elon will be the No. 4 seed in next week’s SoCon Tournament. The Phoenix will play Western Carolina University at 2:30 p.m. March 8 in Asheville.
“We’ll look at this as a fresh start,” Isenbarger said. “We’ll take no prisoners in the tournament.”
Similar to the first meeting of the schools, Davidson senior forward De’Mon Brooks thwarted any of Elon’s defensive schemes near the post, and at times, around the perimeter. The difference was in that he never got in foul trouble this time around. He finished with 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
“We wanted to come out and be aggressive,” Brooks said. “As a team, we played great defense and that led to great offense.”
Leading 38-28 at halftime, the Wildcats came out with a vengeance in the second half. By the 10-minute mark in the half, Davidson had increased that lead to 71-42 with the help of both a 10-1 run and a 13-2 run. Sophomore Brian Sullivan, wearing a mask due to an injury suffered against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, made three 3-pointers in a two-minute span and sank five from long range in the second half alone.
“This is the best shooter in the country,” Brooks said of Sullivan without hesitation. “When he’s hot, keep feeding him the ball.”
Elon, bogged down by the double teams and tight defense of the Wildcats, let it get out of reach quicker than expected. The Phoenix came back from a 15-point deficit to force overtime in the last meeting, but there was none of that to be had this time around.
“We had a pretty good lead, and they came back. Tonight, we didn’t allow them to come back,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “There were times where the memory of that floated around the conversation of the bench. And our guys continued to be aggressive and did not play on their heels, and that was pivotal.”
Davidson shot the ball at a 62 percent clip (31-50) on the night, dangerously scary considering the 3-point shot was not used as a weapon until the second half. With the talents of Sullivan and Brooks, among others, Elon could not find a way to slow down the Wildcats.
“They’re difficult to guard,” Matheny said, “as seen by the fact that in 16 conference games, they’re shooting 52 percent from the floor. We tried to crowd the paint, and they kicked it out and made 3’s. That loosened us up and Brooks went to work inside. We couldn’t outscore them because they defended us so well on the other end.
Elon was 23-of-51 (45.1 percent) from the field, but just 9-of-23 in the first half. Koch and Isenbarger combined for four total points. Beaumont led with 19 points while Troutman added 12.
Brooks scored the first seven points for Davidson and helped the Wildcats to a 26-14 lead midway through the first half. Elon clawed back with six straight points — all at the free throw line — and came within six before the break. In the second half, the deficit grew as large as 29.