Men’s basketball looks to lock up third seed against
UNC-G
With victory, Phoenix would win tiebreaker against
Spartans and face easier first-round opponent Colin Donohue / Managing Editor
The Elon men’s basketball team hasn’t had a game
like this in years.
Saturday’s contest at Alumni Gym against
UNC-Greensboro looms large over the Phoenix, as a victory
would secure the third seed for Elon in the upcoming Southern
Conference tournament.
If Elon wins, both teams will wind up with 7-9 records in
the conference. So why does Elon receive the third seed,
then?
The first tiebreaker is the head-to-head matchup.
An Elon win Saturday would split the season series at one
game a piece. The second tiebreaker is how the teams fared
against the highest ranked team not involved in the tie.
In the north division – home to Elon and UNC-G –
that team is East Tennessee State. Both teams are 0-2 against
ETSU, so the next comparison is to UT-Chattanooga, where Elon
holds the edge.
The Phoenix defeated Chattanooga 88-70 in December for its
first Southern Conference victory.
In the event that Elon loses to UNC-G, the Phoenix would
move into a fourth-place tie with Western Carolina. Elon
holds the tiebreaker in that instance as well.
Despite the seemingly huge implications of Saturday’s
game, head coach Ernie Nestor said it doesn’t come up
in practice.
“No, we don’t talk about it. It can’t help
you win the game,” Nestor said. “It’s like
when you play in a tournament. If you have to tell your team
they’re playing for the tournament championship, you
don’t have a good chance of winning. The thing
you’re most focused on is winning the game.
“I don’t make it a big thing. We talk about
performance, we talk about playing well, we talk about
winning the game. I really believe this in all my heart, that
you really never talk about the implications of the game. The
kids know what those are.”
Guard Scottie Rice does. After Elon’s 68-53 drubbing
of Western Carolina, Rice said playing well at the close of a
season is vital to a team’s chances in the conference
tournament.
“It’s always important at the end of the year
because you get seedings for the tournament,” Rice
said.
The Phoenix, though, hit a snag Monday when it lost to
Georgia Southern 83-80 in overtime. Elon was up 44-27 at
halftime, but it couldn’t hold the lead, something that
has concerned Nestor all year.
“[When] the lead swells a little bit, then all of a
sudden we start getting tricky,” Nestor said. “We
try to throw over the top. We try to go for passes and take
ourselves out of play. It’s like wildfire in the
forest. One guy does it, one guy does it, one guy does it,
and it has to be stopped.
“Sometimes when people get successful, they believe
they’re just going to get more success and more
success, but they forget why they became successful.”
With 8.6 seconds remaining, Elon’s Matt Nowlin hit two
free throws to give the Phoenix a 74-71 lead. But Georgia
Southern guard Terry Williams nailed a 3-pointer from 35 feet
out to force the overtime.
Georgia Southern never trailed during the extra frame and
won 83-80.
Montell Watson led Elon with 25 points. Front court mates
Jackson Atoyebi and Rasmi Gamble added 18 and 16 points,
respectively. Rice had 10.
Perhaps Elon’s most consistent effort of the season
came Feb. 21 in its victory against Western Carolina. The
Catamounts brought Kevin Martin – the nation’s
leading scorer – into Alumni Gym.
But the Phoenix defense allowed Martin to score only 12
points.
In fact, he could’ve tallied fewer, but in a
Busch-league turn of events, Martin became the only offensive
option with less than a minute remaining, scoring four points
as a result.
Atoyebi had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Nowlin had 20 and
Rice added 11.
In the last four games, Rice, who’s playing with a
torn left medial meniscus, has exuded the grit and
determination he’s become known for over the last two
seasons. In Rice and Nowlin, the Phoenix have a potent
one-two punch from the outside.
“When they get their feet set and their shoulders
toward the basket, they’re pretty good shooters,”
Atoyebi said of Rice and Nowlin. “It takes a lot of
pressure off the rest of the team when they’re making
their shots.”
Phoenix Notes: Rice said his custom-made brace is causing
his knee no discomfort, and he said he feels as confident now
as before he sustained his knee injury.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Rice said.
“I don’t feel it at all. [The brace] is just
protective. I don’t want anything more serious to
happen to it.”
Rice wore a soft brace during Elon’s Tennessee road
swing two weeks ago, and he said he played more tentatively.
He plans to play brace-free next season.
“I want to lose it,” Rice said. “I’m
not going to wear it next year.”
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