By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Elon’s men’s basketball team built strong credentials through the first couple of months of the season, but much of the crispness that contributed to that wasn’t on display Saturday night.
The Phoenix fell 76-62 to College of Charleston in a Coastal Athletic Association showdown at Schar Center.
“We’ve played 20 games so far this season, practicing since June, July,” Elon coach Billy Taylor said, “and that’s not the team we’ve shown to be so far this season. . . This is really the first real stinker that we’ve had.”
T.K. Simpkins scored 20 points, and Sam Sherry and Nick Dorn each finished with 15 points for Elon (14-7 overall, 5-3 CAA).
“We could have been better,” Sherry said. “But the lucky thing is we have another game coming up quickly.”
The Phoenix suffered its first loss in nine home games this season.
“We didn’t play particularly well (Thursday night) against Monmouth,” Taylor said. “Was hoping we would come out and play with a sense of urgency and excitement, but we weren’t able to execute the game plan the way we needed to at a high enough level.”
Defending CAA champion College of Charleston (16-5, 6-2) had four players in double figures, led by A.J. Smith’s 20 points and Ante Brzovic’s 18 points. The Cougars lost two nights earlier at home to UNC Wilmington by 85-83.
“They certainly came out with something to prove,” Taylor said. “We kind of skated by in our last game, and we didn’t come out with something to prove in what we thought was a pivotal matchup. So we learned a lesson.”
Elon, already with its most victories since the 2017-18 season, shot 41.8 percent from the floor.
The Phoenix looked poised to make a charge in the final 10 minutes, with an announced crowd of more than 2,600 eager to provide a boost. Dorn’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to 63-52 with about seven minutes left. Two more offensive rebounds aided the Cougars as they went on a 7-0 spurt across the next two minutes.
“We forced a lot of misses,” Taylor said. “We couldn’t finish (defensive) possessions. When you’re not finishing possessions, you can’t get out on the fast break. We couldn’t quite make that run where we were getting enough stops in a row.”
Elon guard T.J. Simpkins was without a point in nearly 31 minutes, shooting 0-for-7 from the floor just two nights removed from a 26-point outing.
The Cougars collected 19 offensive rebounds, with 12 of those in the first half. That compensated for their 2-for-12 shooting on 3s until hitting the last long-range attempt of the half.
The Phoenix is 0-5 when outrebounded this season. Elon was charged with 13 turnovers compared to six for the Cougars.
“You can’t do that against good teams in this league,” Taylor said.
Elon is home vs. Hofstra (11-10, 3-5) on Thursday night and against Northeastern on Saturday night.
- Elon pulled out an 83-71 victory against visiting Monmouth last Thursday night after trailing with less than four minutes to play.
Dorn hit two free throws to break a tie with 2:06 remaining. The Phoenix ended the game on a 15-3 run. Elon benefited from three technical fouls on Monmouth, including one on coach King Rice, with 3.2 seconds to play.
T.J. Simpkins finished with 26 points, T.K. Simpkins had 18 points and Dorn scored 13.
The Phoenix held a 47-35 lead early in the second half before the Hawks rallied to pull even at 51-51.
