Furman Falls at Elon, 74-66

Furman Falls to 3-11 in SoCon Play

By: Furman University | News Channel 7
Published: February 10, 2009

Elon connected on 7-of-8 three-point attempts and shot 58.7% from the field on its way to a 74-66 victory over Furman in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Monday evening at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C.

The Phoenix improved to 8-14 overall and 5-9 in the Southern Conference while the Paladins dropped to 5-18 overall and 3-11 in the SoCon.

The Phoenix made 27-of-46 field goal attempts and 13-of-16 foul shots while holding a 34-27 advantage over the Paladins on the glass. Elon’s bench, led by Ola Atoyebi’s team-high 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 at the foul line, sparked the Phoenix with 33 points.

Elon used a 13-2 run to close the first half and take a 41-29 advantage into intermission before extending its spurt to a 24-7 run to open up a
52-34 lead with 16:41 left on a three-point play by Atoyebi.

After Furman fashioned a late 12-2 run to trim the Phoenix lead to 70-66 on a Connor Nolte trey with 23 seconds left, Josh Bonney and Atoyebi each converted a pair of free throws and Brett James blocked two Paladin three-pointers to help Elon hold on for its fourth straight victory over Furman.

Bonney, James and T.J. Douglas each joined Atoyebi in double figures with
12 points apiece. James and Atoyebi led the way on the boards with eight rebounds each.

Sophomore Bryson Barnes connected on 6-of-7 attempts from the floor and all four trips to the charity stripe to net a career-high 16 points for Furman. Nolte matched a career-best with 15 points while Jordan Miller contributed 10 points. Nolte paced the Paladins with six rebounds.

Furman, who attempted 18 more field goals than the Phoenix, shot 42.2%
(27-64) from the field and only 2-of-13 from beyond the arc. The Paladin committed just eight turnovers and forced the Phoenix into 17 miscues, but managed to hold just a 13-12 lead in points-off-turnovers.

Furman, winners of three straight home games, returns to Carolina First Court at Timmons Arena on Thursday to host SoCon rival Georgia Southern at
7 p.m.