The Elon men's basketball team began the 2004 Southern Conference tournament with a 66-56 first round win over The Citadel on Wednesday, March 3. Details...
Elon took advantage of a variety of scoring options and used timely runs to beat The Citadel 66-56 and win its first-ever Southern Conference tournament game in the first round at the North Charleston Coliseum on Wednesday.
“We’re very pleased to win the game,” said Elon coach Ernie Nestor. “It’s our first Southern Conference tournament. It’s a good win for us although we didn’t play very well. I have to give The Citadel credit. We couldn’t get the tempo where we wanted it.”
The Phoenix (No. 3 seed, North Division) drained eight 3-pointers and got 18 points and eight rebounds from Jackson Atoyebi in the middle. In addition to Atoyebi, Elon picked up big games from Matt Nowlin, who made 5-of-11 3-pointers and finished with 15 points. Steven Harvin added 11 points and six assists.
In contrast, The Citadel (No. 6 seed, South) got scoring from only four players with J’mel Everhart not getting his first points until the 10:53 mark in the second half. Max Mombollet and Kevin Hammack did most of the damage for the Bulldogs. Mombollet had 22 points and six rebounds before fouling out. Hammack tied a career high with 20 points and six assists. Dante Terry finished with 12 points.
Elon had its problems in the first half against the Bulldogs, but with the help of four 3-pointers and a 6-0 run late, took a 28-26 lead into the half.
As was the story for most of the game, The Citadel’s early run was nearly a two-man show. Hammack had 13 first-half points for the Bulldogs and Mombollet had 10. Only Terry’s three points broke the monotony.
In the second half, The Citadel again took a lead, but the Phoenix used Mombollet’s foul trouble to their advantage. The Citadel led 47-45 when Mombollet picked up his fourth foul and was taken out of the game with 7:47 remaining. Elon then reeled off a 10-0 run to take control.
“We don’t have any size underneath,” said Citadel coach Pat Dennis. “When we lost Max to foul trouble, it hurt us. Jackson played very well for them, so it was a struggle to lose our inside presence.”