Elon Never Leads, Cougars Headed to SoCon Championship

College of Charleston 68, Elon 60

Top Performers: 

Willis Hall 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2-3 3FG

Lucas Troutman 23 points, 3 rebounds

The Cougars have reached the mountain top. All that stands between them and the NCAA Tournament is a third and final showdown with SoCon rival Davidson for league supremacy. It's the matchup we all wanted and it's going to be a battle on ESPN2 tonight. The Cougars have been playing their best basketball in Asheville and will look to finally punch that elusive ticket to the Big Dance. Davidson is looking to complete the season sweep of the Cougars and take their rightful spot as the SoCon's best representative in the madness. It's all on the line after both teams won yesterday.

Because of the SoCon's still mostly bs division format, the Phoenix of Elon came into last night's game as the higher seed despite CofC having the better conference and regular season record. Elon had just survived UNCG and the Cougars had dispatched the WCU Catamounts. The Cougars were wearing their black uniforms.

Just like in their first game, CofC came right out of the gates firing. They started the semi-finals on an 11-0 run and forced Elon into a turnover prone, bagel-for-eight attempts from the field. The matchup to watch was inside. "Stretch fours" Willis Hall and Riley Beaumont are very similar players and Lucas Troutman and Adjehi Baru are the best SoCon centers this side of Davidson. Adjehi was the story early as he played stellar one-on-one defense against Troutman. Baru was quick on his feet and careful with his hands to force Troutman away from the basket and contest his shots without fouling. 

Just as Wojcik said after the Western Carolina game, starting on such a hot offensive run is impossible to maintain. After cooling off from the field, Elon was able to chip away at the lead with Troutman hitting mid-range J's and senior guard Josh Bonney having a career night. After an Andrew Lawrence jumper the Cougs went into the locker room with a six point lead.

In the second half it was all about Lawrence and Willis Hall. Had it not been for an ACL tear last preseason, this could have been Willis Hall's final game at CofC; that's how he's been playing in Asheville. Or maybe it's just playing Elon that gets Willis fired up. He was the best player on the court when the two teams met in early December. 

Hall won the matchup with Beaumont to the tune of a double-double, including a game-changing assist to Anthony Thomas for a three and a pair of his own long balls. Not to be outdone, Andrew Lawrence finally found his stroke after three halves in Asheville and torched the Phoenix for 17 points in the second half alone including 7-9 free throws to keep CofC's cushion. 

The Phoenix would give it their best in the final minutes, cutting the lead to one possession at times, but never taking the upper had. Bonney drove to the basket 3-4 times in the final minute and was able to convert with the Cougars unwilling to foul. As has been the case all weekend, the Cougars were just about lights out from the charity stripe again and it helped them preserve a win.

A few more observations:

• The Cougars survived some really inconsistent SoCon refs last night. We were on the lucky end of a few calls but the two "over the backs" on Trent and the inexcusable Elon pump fake, get fouled, fall to the ground, launch an underhanded shot with your back to the basket that went 12 inches into the air...should not have resulted in three shots. 
• Speaking of Trent, to no one but the ref's fault, was limited for the second straight game. This to me is a big story line heading into tonight. Trent should be well-rested and highly motivated going into his matchup against the Davidson bigs. Again, the fact that the Cougars are winning without even an average performance from Wiedeman is a good sign. Whenever he turns it on (got to be tonight) the Cougars have another weapon
• The fact that the Cougars have been playing well without one of their best players is a testament to how well-rounded the team is. Adjehi Baru, Willis Hall, Anthony Thomas and Andrew Lawrence all look like All-SoCon Tournament performers. Most inspiring of all is the stellar play of Thomas and Hall. Both those guys are x-factors, when they're on the Cougars normally win. If we can get those two to keep up their amazing offensive prowess AND get solid performances from our low-post guys and shooters....oh the possibilities....
• We haven't even talked about the Cougar defense and rebounding. Why should we? Doug Wojcik is our coach! The Cougars held one of the league's best three-point shooting teams to just 11 attempts (the Phoenix hit just 3) and sharp-shooter Jack Isenbarger was held to zero points. Thanks in large part to their early defensive stand, the Cougars also held Elon to under 40% shooting from the floor for the entire game.
• CofC didn't do a great job of crashing the offensive glass, normally a strength of theirs, and the rebounding margin ended up being tied 28 all at the end of the night. Troutman however, the 1st Team All-SoCon forward, had just 3 rebounds