UNCG-Elon Box Score
Box Score
Josh Gross had 14 points on Senior Night |
GREENSBORO, NC – Ray Bristow hit his first five shots from the field and scored 16 first-half points to jump start UNC Greensboro to a lead that it did not surrender, defeating Elon, 69-60, in Southern Conference men's basketball action Tuesday night at Fleming Gymnasium.
Elon (6-22, 4-11 SoCon) was led by Colin Wyatt's game-high 25 points. Wyatt, a transfer from George Mason, nearly doubled his previous career-high which he set on Saturday with 13 points against The Citadel. Wyatt hit 11-of-16 from the field and added seven rebounds. However, the rest of the Elon squad shot just 12-for-41 from the field, 29.3 percent, on the night.
Along with Bristow's 16 points, UNCG also got 14 points from senior Josh Gross in his final home game. Ricky Hickman also had 14 points and Kyle Hines chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds.
“They want to play a grind it out game,” said UNCG coach Fran McCaffery. “We want to be able to get up and down and don't want to grind it out, and they know that. The first time we played them, we were afraid to make mistakes. We tried to get the guys to just go out and play. If mistakes happen, let them happen because we were aggressive. In the first half, it got away from us a little bit at times. But, in the second half, we got some good transition baskets and were able to be comfortable.”
For the second consecutive game, UNC Greensboro used a hot-shooting first half to jump out to an early lead. Led by Bristow's outburst, UNCG hit its first five and eight of its first nine from the field. Bristow scored eight point on his first three shots in the midst of a 12-4 UNCG run to open the game. The Spartans (15-11, 8-7 SoCon) led by as many as nine in the first half, but the Phoenix 9-4 over the final six minutes to close to within 37-33 at the intermission.
Elon had gotten the deficit to three with 18:06 to play when UNCG went on a 12-3 run over the next four minutes. Gross accounted for five of the 12 points in the run to give UNCG its first double-digit lead of the night, 54-42. The Phoenix rallied to score the next eight points and get back to within four with Wyatt and Steve Harvin each scoring four points in the spurt.
However, after a Spartan timeout, UNCG rattled off nine in a row. The run, capped off by a three-pointer and a lay-up by Ricky Hickman, gave UNCG a 63-50 lead with 6:44 to play. Elon never got closer than six points after that.
The win gave UNCG its fourth 15-win season in the six seasons under Fran McCaffery. Prior to McCaffery's tenure at UNCG, the Spartans won 15 games just seven times in 32 seasons.
UNCG, which is a perfect 12-0 when leading at the half this season, remained a game behind Appalachian State for the all-important second-place standing in the SoCon's North Division. The Mountaineers defeated Western Carolina, 72-54, on Tuesday to remain a game in front. The top two teams in each division receive a first round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament. Chattanooga has already clinched the North Division's top seed. Should Appalachian State and UNCG finish in a tie, UNCG controls the tie-breaker. Appalachian State finishes the regular season at Elon on Saturday.
UNCG will travel to Western Carolina for a Saturday 7 pm contest.
AGATE
ELON (6-22, 4-11 SoCon)
Wyatt, 11-16 3-5 25; Chalko, 4-10 1-2 12; Waters, 2-8 3-4 8; Rice, 3-7 0-0 7; Watson, 1-7 2-2 4; Harvin, 2-4 0-0 4; Harris, 0-2 0-0 0; Jordan, 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 9-13 60.
UNC GREENSBORO (15-11, 8-7 SoCon)
Bristow, 6-16 0-0 16; Hickman, 6-9 0-2 14; Gross, 5-12 3-3 14; Hines, 5-10 2-4 12; Burrell, 3-9 2-2 9; Oleksiak, 2-2 0-0 4; Everette, 0-0 0-0 0; Johnson, 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-59 7-11 69.
Halftime: UNCG, 37-33. 3-point goals-Elon 5-19 (Chalko, 3-8; Waters, 1-5; Rice, 1-3; Harvin, 0-1; Watson, 0-2), UNC Greensboro 8-14 (Bristow, 4-7; Hickman, 2-4; Gross, 1-1; Burrell, 1-1; Johnson, 0-1). Fouled out--Elon-None, UNC Greensboro-None. Rebounds-Elon 38 (Chalko, 9), UNC Greensboro 32 (Hines, 8). Assists-Elon 10 (Rice, 3), UNC Greensboro 13 (Hickman, 5). Total fouls-Elon 16, UNC Greensboro 13. A-1344
