ELON, N.C. – Elon secured the first seven offensive rebounds of Friday night's game against the North Carolina A&T men's basketball team to establish a narrative of being more aggressive and physical that held for 40 minutes as the Elon Phoenix defeated the Aggies 77-59 at the Schar Center.
Elon out-rebounded A&T 53-30, including an 18-5 advantage on the offensive glass. The Phoenix also had a 17-4 advantage in second-chance points. Once Elon heated from 3-point range in the second half, it proved too much for the Aggies to overcome.
After winning their Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) opener on Thursday against Campbell, the Aggies fell to 3-12 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Elon lost its CAA opener and, therefore, moved to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in league action. A&T guard Landon Glasper led the Aggies with 21 points but was the only Aggie who scored in double figures.
"You can't win when your opponent gets that many offensive rebounds," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "The game was lost in the first half. We gave up 13 offensive rebounds in the first half, and they scored 12 points off those rebounds and had a total of 32 points. You're talking about holding a team under 20 points in a half if you simply rebound the basketball."
Following intermission, sophomore point guard Camian Shell gave the Aggies a 36-35 lead on a 15-footer two minutes into the half. Elon's Sam Sherry and 3-point shooting would take over from there. Sherry started his stellar play by knocking down a three from the top of the key to give the Phoenix the lead back.
He followed with a free and a hook shot in the post to give the Phoenix a five-point advantage at 41-36. A&T never saw the lead again after Sherry's six consecutive points. The Aggies got to within three as freshman Nikolaos Chitikoudis connected with sophomore Evan Joyner on a bounce pass that Joyner finished with a layup.
But the Phoenix started netting threes from there as Elon would hit 10 second-half threes. Nick Dorn opened with a three from the corner to give the Phoenix a 44-38 lead with 14 minutes to play. A Rob Higgins 3-pointer two minutes later extended the Phoenix's lead to 49-41. A&T responded with four straight points as Chitikoudis scored on the block before a Shell steal and pass led to a Kyle Duke layup to cut Elon's lead to 49-45 with 10:54 remaining.
But back-to-back threes from Max Mackinnon gave Elon a 10-point cushion. Again, the Aggies answered with six straight points capped off by a gravity-defining drive and scoop layup from Glasper, where he stayed in the air long enough to avoid Kendall Campbell's shot block attempt and draw the foul. The and-one got the Aggies back to within four at 55-51 with 8 1/2 minutes to play.
But similar to previous occasions, Elon used the 3-point shot to distance themselves. Elon ended three consecutive offensive possessions with a three-point make. Dorn had two of those makes, with the last one giving Elon a 64-52 lead with seven minutes remaining. The Aggies got the lead under 10 again on a Shell layup and a Glasper free throw, but Sherry scored in the post again, and Dorn followed with another three to give the Phoenix a 69-55 lead with 4 1/2 to go.
"It really didn't concern that they came out and made a barrage of threes in the second half outside of not wanting them to go into the basket," said Ross. "That rebounding is what irks me because there is no skill in that. That's just a will to want it thing. And this is the first game all year where we got out-willed by an opponent. We've lost, of course, but we never got out-willed and out-toughed, and that's what happened to us tonight."
Sherry came off the bench to score 20 points and secure nine rebounds on 8-for-11 shooting for the Phoenix. The Aggies will welcome the Drexel Dragons to Corbett Center at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Dragons are off to a 3-0 start in conference play, winning those games by an average margin of 23.7 points.
"We'll be ready. I guarantee you that," said Ross.
