By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Elon finally secured much-desired defensive stops and it led to a comeback across the last 10 minutes in an 85-79 men’s basketball victory against Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Schar Center.
“This the first time all year we’ve been down at halftime and rallied to a victory,” Elon coach Billy Taylor said. “Every game kind of has a different make-up and a different feel to it, and this one was just really tough. It was a challenge.”
Kacper Klaczek poured in 23 points and Chandler Cuthrell reached the 20-point mark for the fifth consecutive game with 21 points. The duo also each grabbed six rebounds, while Randall Pettus II added 11 points.
“Teammates got me in position where I could actually be aggressive,” said Klaczek, who made nine of 11 shots from the field. “I was locked in and I’m glad that the whole team got locked in at the end of the game and we could get a win.”
It took time for the energy to flow Elon’s way the day after the conclusion of final exams on campus, meaning the student sections were largely empty.
The Phoenix (6-4) trailed 70-59 with less than 10 minutes remaining before there was a shift at the defensive end.
“We got on the rebound(s),” Klaczek said. “At the end of it, it was all about defensive execution and getting the rebound.”
Pettus drained a pair of free throws to pull Elon within 77-76 with 2:53 left.
Gustav Winther, who led the Huskies with 15 points, missed in the low post over Klaczek, who was fouled retrieving the rebound. Klaczek made one free throw to knot the score at 79-79 with 1:59 to go.
After a Northern Illinois turnover, Klaczek drove for a go-ahead reverse dunk.
“The play was initially for a post-up,” he said. “But I saw the matchup was a taller player. I got outside and saw the left side was completely open and they didn’t really have a defensive player in the second line of defense.”
On Elon’s next possession, Cutrell made a power move that resulted in a three-point play.
Northern Illinois didn’t have a field goal for the final 9:48.
“Our defense down the stretch, getting six stops in a row, was just more focused, more determined and with a lot more energy,” Taylor said.
The Phoenix won in November 2024 at Northern Illinois. This was the Huskies’ first game in the state of North Carolina since a January 1989 victory at Davidson.
Northern Illinois (3-7) suffered its fourth consecutive loss, cooling off and shooting 41 percent from the field.
The matchup had special meaning for Taylor, who grew up in the Chicago area. Northern Illinois is his parents’ alma mater, where his father played basketball.
Northern Illinois went up 62-51 early in the second half on the way to putting up 16 points in less than six minutes coming out of halftime.
By then, the Huskies had 10 baskets from 3-point range, while Elon was 3-for-16 from beyond the arc (on the way to finishing 3-for-19 on 3s).
“To be able to win a game where you make only three 3s, they make 11 3s and we fouled them on two 3s,” Taylor said. “… It was important for us to try to just figure it out.”
The Huskies posted 11 points less than 2½ minutes into the game and held a 48-41 halftime lead. They connected on three 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half.
“That’s what you want to do, you want to find ways to learn from wins,” Taylor said. “You want to be in as many of these situations that you can in non-conference play. … This was ugly, but we’d certainly rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss. We were gritty. We were tough.”
Elon takes a two-game winning streak into Wednesday’s visit from Atlantic 10 Conference member Richmond (8-1 entering the weekend).
