Box Score Game Book (pdf)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Wofford College men’s basketball team was defeated 62-55 by Elon in the opening round of the 2009 Southern Conference Tournament on Friday night in Chattanooga. The Terriers struggled against a hot-shooting Phoenix team in the first half and could never gain the lead in the game.
Wofford ends the season 16-14 overall and 12-8 in the conference, while Elon improves to 11-19 overall and were 7-13 in the SoCon. The Terriers were led by Noah Dahlman with 18 points and eight rebounds. Junior Salters added eleven points and Tim Johnson had nine points and six rebounds. Elon was led by Monty Sanders with 21 points as he was 7-of-9 from the floor and had a team-high nine rebounds. Brett James had 19 points.
“I told our players that I firmly believe that you get what you deserve,” said head coach Mike Young. “The start of the game was a joke. You come in here thinking you have an opportunity to win the tournament and then the thud you hear after a night like that is sobering. Hopefully we can come back with a better opportunity next year.
“This season was a quantum leap forward for this team. We took some big steps forward and got some quality minutes from young guys. We are not going to let that debacle tarnish the year. It was an unbelievable treat to coach this team. I realize we have a pretty nice team coming back. The season is about learning and teaching opportunities and tonight was a tough lesson to learn.”
The Phoenix got off to a fast start, scoring the first 14 points of the game. Wofford finally got on the board at the 14:11 mark with a basket from Tim Johnson. Elon took a 15-point lead before the Terriers responded with an 8-0 run to pull within 17-10 with 10:36 on the clock. After a bucket from Terry Martin at 7:47, the Terriers managed to cut the lead to 24-16.
Elon added an 8-1 run over the next three minutes to take a 31-17 lead. Wofford was able to go on a short 5-1 run, but the Phoenix scored the last basket of the half to take a 34-22 lead at the break. In the first half, Elon shot 63.2% from the floor and Monty Sanders and Brett James each had eleven points.
Early in the second half, Wofford used a 7-0 run to pull the score back to 38-30 at the 13:30 mark. The Terriers kept chipping away at the lead and after a three from Brad Loesing, the Phoenix lead was down to four points. Elon then was able to extend the lead back to eight points with 6:59 left in the half.
A bucket from Junior Salters, two free throws from Tim Johnson and two more free throws from Salters cut the lead to two points at 47-45. However, that was as close as the Terriers could get in the final five minutes. The Phoenix kept the lead at between three and five points until the last sixty seconds. After a foul shot from Noah Dahlman with 39 seconds left to cut the lead to 58-55, Brett James was four-of-four from the line to secure the 62-55 win for Elon.
Wofford shot 37.7% from the floor, the lowest mark since January 22 at Georgia Southern. From three, Wofford was 14.3%, which was the lowest since at Clemson (11/19). The Terriers were 52.0% from the line. The Phoenix shot 50.0% from the floor and 40.0% from behind the arc. Elon was 59.3% from the free throw line. The Phoenix had a 38-28 advantage on the glass. Elon advances to play Chattanooga on Saturday night at 7:00 pm.
The game marked the final game for seniors Matt Estep and Marcus Jackson. They led a team that won the most Southern Conference games (12) in school history and secured the first winning season since moving to NCAA Division I.
