Great basketball game at Elon tonight against Western Carolina (article | box score).  Elon came into the game leading the Southern Conference North Division by a game over Western Carolina.  Western led most of the first half, mostly on the strength of their aggressive (manic at times) defense.  They stymied Elon’s offense.

In the final three minutes of the opening stanza, the Phoenix (9-9, 5-0) scored five of the period’s last six points to cut the deficit from 21-15 to 22-20 for halftime on a lay-up by Watson with five seconds to go. Elon then opened the second stanza with an 18-6 run to forge a 38-28 lead on an old fashion three-point play by Watson (pictured left) with 12:27 remaining.

Western came back and pulled within a few, and it remained that way for most of the last 10 minutes of the game.  Western was down 1 with 10 seconds left when Elon guard Montell Watson hit one of two free throws, putting Elon up by two.  Western inbounded and took the ball up the floor but lost possession with a few seconds left on a steal by Scottie Rice.  Elon won 50-48 to extend their win streak to 9 and take their conference record to 5-0.
Western effectively shut down Elon leading scorer Chris Chalko for the game, holding him to 8 points.  Watson led the Phoenix with 16 and Colin Wyatt came up big with 13.  Scottie Rice scored 3 but was a monster all game.  He doesn’t get big numbers but always get after it hard, pulls in loose balls, makes big defensive stops, and tonight getting that last-second steal and even taking a shot to the face from Western Carolina’s Antonio Russell (that everyone in the building saw but the officials) shortly before the two of them went to the floor in a tangled heap of shoving and punching while going for a rebound.  Rice reminds me a lot of former Purdue player Brian Cardinal (”Citizen Pain”), which is a huge compliment.

Great environment at Alumni Gym tonight, another sellout or near-sellout.  Next game is Monday night at home vs. Furman at 8:00.