BOONE, N.C. – The App State men's basketball team fell 88-53 to the Elon Phoenix at home on Monday. The Phoenix ran away with the game late in the first half thanks to a 26-6 run to close the first half, and never looked back.
Elon (4-2) proved a physical counterpart to the Mountaineers (4-3) on Monday, as it outrebounded the Mountaineers by 20 (45-25). 16 of the Phoenix's 45 rebounds came on the offensive glass, which translated to 26 second-chance points. Additionally, Elon totaled 46 points in the paint compared to App State's 16.
Jalen Tot led the Mountaineers in scoring against the Phoenix with 14 points, his season and Mountaineer high. Tot drilled four threes in the game, the most made by a Mountaineer in a game this season. App State drilled eight threes as a team, extending its streak to 19 consecutive games with at least five made 3-pointers.
How it Happened
The Mountaineers took an early lead thanks to a 3-pointer by
Eren Banks at the 18:55 mark after the Phoenix scored the game's first basket. The lead was short-lived, however, as a second-chance basket put Elon on top by a point. The Phoenix didn't relinquish that lead for the rest of the game.
After Elon went up by five points at the 16:21 mark, the Mountaineers trimmed their deficit down to two, using a
Luke Wilson free throw and an
Alonzo Dodd layup to do so. The Phoenix retaliated with four straight points to go back up by six following the under-16 media timeout, but
Kasen Jennings and
Michael Marcus Jr. each netted baskets to make it a two-point game again with 13:51 to play.
App State trimmed its deficit down to just one point with 11 minutes to play after Dodd sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Phoenix answered the Mountaineer basket with a layup, but Marcus Jr.'s layup after a slick find by
Jason Clarke Jr. made it 18-17 with just over half the period left to play.
Elon took control over the last half of the first frame by embarking on a 26-6 run from the 8:47 mark to the halftime buzzer. The Phoenix hit on 10 of their final 18 shots and outhustled the Mountaineers to several loose balls as they scored nine second-chance points. When the horn sounded, Elon led by 21.
Offense was hard to come by for the Mountaineers in the first half, as they shot just 26.9 percent from the field and 2-13 from three. Dodd paced App State with five first-half points, while Wilson and Marcus Jr. had four.
Although the Mountaineers cut their deficit back down to 18 by the 18:21 mark of the second half, Elon continued to shoot the ball well and jumped back ahead by 29 by the under-16 timeout. Tot tallied his first basket out of the media break, but Elon maintained its momentum and soared into the under-12 break with a 28-point lead.
Tot hit on his third 3-pointer of the second half at the 11:43 mark, but the Phoenix's lead swelled to 31 a few possessions later. That advantage grew to 35 by the 5:56 mark of the final half after Bryson Cokley made a layup.
Elon quickly went ahead by a game-high 36 points with just over two minutes to play.
Chad Moodie scored the last points of the game at the free-throw line, but when the buzzer sounded, the Phoenix had claimed a 35-point win in the Holmes Center.
Top Performers
Tot finished the game as App State's leading scorer, tallying a season-best 14 points on 5-11 shooting. The graduate guard also dished out an assist and grabbed three rebounds. Marcus Jr. and Dodd each recorded nine points, with Marcus Jr.'s tally falling one short of his season high of 10 that he recorded on Nov. 5 against Carolina University. Along with his nine points, Dodd dished out an assist and recorded two rebounds.
Up Next
App State will look to bounce back on Wednesday when it travels to Mercer for a 2 p.m. matchup at Hawkins Arena. Wednesday's game will be streamed on ESPN+.
