Elon Falls to Army West Point, 83-78, in College Basketball Invitational
Dylan Smith
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Elon fell to Army West Point, 83-78, in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) at Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Sunday.
The Phoenix finished the season with a 17-16 record, while the Black Knights moved to 17-15 on the year.
Sam Sherry led Elon with a 23-point, 14-rebound double-double, shooting 7-of-10 from the floor with three 3-pointers and a 6-for-6 showing from the charity stripe. Isaac Harrell also produced a 20-point effort and saw six of his seven makes come from distance. Andrew King rounded out those in double figures with 18 points.
Army’s Jalen Rucker and Jorn Everson combined for 36 points in the second half alone, seeing 31 come in the final 14:01 of the contest. Rucker finished with a game-best 27 points and six assists. Everson chipped in 17 of his 22 points in the last 20 minutes of action, going 8-for-12 from the field and sinking four treys on Sunday afternoon.
Elon jumped out to a 17-9 lead following a hard-fought triple from Sherry to save a ball from going out of bounds and eventually knocked down a trey from the wing with 13:18 left to play. The sharpshooting senior finished the half with 13 points, sinking all five of his attempts from the floor, including three from behind the arc.
The Phoenix expanded its lead to double digits, as Harrell hit a pair of key 3-pointers just 76 seconds apart to take a 32-17 advantage with just under seven minutes remaining.
Army trimmed its deficit down to down to nine, 39-30, at the break, holding Elon without a field goal over the final 4:29 of the stanza. However, the Phoenix surrendered its last field goal to the Black Knights with 2:43 to play in the half.
Rattling off six straight makes from the floor and a 14-3 run to open the second frame, the Phoenix ballooned its lead to as many as 21 through the first 3:24 of the stanza.
The Black Knights willed their way back into the contest with six treys and a 26-4 run over the next seven minutes. Rucker and Everson combined for 20 points over that stretch, with the latter completing the comeback with a 3-pointer to cap off the run and give Army its first lead, 59-57, since 18:12 of the first half.
The duo continued to surge after Elon registered five unanswered points as Rucker and Everson combined for a 9-0 run to take its largest lead of the game, 68-62, with 7:03 left in regulation.
Elon’s Harrell did not let the Phoenix go down quietly as he chipped the team’s deficit to as few as one down the stretch. He also knocked down a fadeaway triple from the corner with just over a minute remaining to make it a four-point game. Army staved off the late surge to advance.