By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The opening week of the college basketball season came with various rewards for the Elon men’s team.
Vastly difference experiences gave the Phoenix plenty to build from, including a 103-66 triumph against Bluefield (Virginia) on Saturday night at Schar Center in its only November home game.
“A lot of confidence,” Elon center Matthew Van Komen said. “We weren’t too sure going into the season with a lot of new guys. It’s all coming together, starting to, at least.”
T.J .Simpkins pumped in 21 points and Nick Dorn had 16 points followed by T.K. Simpkins (14), Van Komen (13), and Sam Sherry (12) for Elon (1-1), which led 53-33 at halftime.
The season began with a 90-76 loss at then-No. 9 North Carolina, with the Phoenix leading with less than seven minutes to play.
“The first week in November, we’re far from a finished product,” Elon coach Billy Taylor said. “A lot of excitement from the Carolina game of what we can become, but we’re certainly not there yet.”
Van Komen, a 7-foot-4 player with his fourth school, had his highest point total among his three Division I stops, though it came against an NAIA team. The Phoenix learned from the first game and wanted to show more gains.
“Following that Carolina game, we were on a high so we kept riding the wave,” Van Komen said.
Six Elon players connected on at least one 3-point shot in each of the first two games. The Phoenix drilled a dozen 3-pointers, including three by T.K. Simpkins, vs. Bluefield.
“We have a lot of guys who can score,” Taylor said. “We have a lot of shooters. We’ve got some speed and athleticism.”
Bluefield dropped to 0-2.
Elon plays Friday night at Gardner-Webb in a game moved up one day from the original date. It will be the first of six consecutive games away from home for the Phoenix.
Women’s basketball
Jayda Angel scored eight of her 17 points in the fourth quarter as Elon topped visiting Gardner-Webb 69-61 on Friday night at Schar Center.
Gardner-Webb led 56-54 before Angel’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:02 to play was followed by Laila Anderson’s 3.
Anderson provided 11 points for Elon (2-0), which grabbed 17 offensive rebounds.
After Wednesday night’s game at Marshall, the Phoenix is home again at 8:00 p.m. Saturday vs. Kent State for its last home game of the month.
