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ELON, N.C. -- In what will most likely be its final all-time appearance at Alumni Gym, the Samford University basketball team suffered an 86-69 loss to the sharpshooting Elon Phoenix Saturday in Southern Conference play. Elon drained 10 of its 22 3-point field-goal attempts and turned in a 53.4-percent shooting mark from the field.
 
"In just seems like when we're on the road, our defense takes a step back and we give up a lot more points than we want to," said Samford head coach Bennie Seltzer. "Tonight was no different. We scored 69 points and that should put us in a good position to win. We shot 56 percent from the field in the second half, but yet they were able to pull away. We just made too many little mistakes here and there, and they made us pay. They are a good team."
 
Samford (11-17, 5-8 SoCon) finished Saturday's road contest with a 46.6-percent tally from the floor, but registered a 3-of-11 performance (27.3 percent) from long distance.
 
With their loss, the Bulldogs dropped to 2-14 when playing on the road this season. Samford's away victories were registered Dec. 20 at Jacksonville University, 75-58, and at Furman on Feb. 3, 76-68.
 
Conversely, Elon (15-11, 8-3 SoCon) continued its stellar play at home this year and improved to 10-1 when competing in Alumni Gym in 2013-14. The Phoenix's lone loss at home this season occurred Nov. 26 against Georgia State, 90-85.
 
Elon extended its winning streak to five-consecutive games Saturday and remained undefeated since Jan. 25, when the Bulldogs knocked off the Phoenix, 62-59, in Birmingham, Ala.
 
Despite trailing 43-32 at the half, Samford continuously chipped away at Elon's advantage and eventually cut its lead to 58-54 with 12:06 remaining in the second half.
 
During the Bulldogs' second-half resurgence, sophomore forward Tim Williams exploded for nine quick points, while Isaiah Williams added six early in the final period. Samford also received a pivotal 3-point basket from Tyler Hood and a pair of smooth mid-range jumpers from Raijon Kelly.
 
Just minutes later, Elon used five straight points from Ryley Beaumont and a deep 3-point basket from Tanner Samson to increase its lead back to 66-54.
 
Not to be deterred, Samford continued to hang tough amongst the raucous crowd and battled back to within five points, 66-61, with 7:53 remaining. Isaiah Williams and Kelly once again proved to be the catalysts for the Bulldogs' offense as Williams scored five-consecutive points and Kelly then drained another 12-foot jumper.
 
Elon, with the home crowd listed as a capacity-filled 1,607, then played off the energy and built its advantage back to 75-65. From that point on, Samford would never get any closer than 10 points down as the Phoenix continued to connect on its late free-throw attempts.
 
"We ended up losing by 17 points tonight, but it was definitely a lot closer game that the final score indicates," Seltzer said. "There were a couple points in the second half when we cut their lead to four, and one of the times we were able to get a stop, but then they got the offensive rebound and scored to gain a lot of momentum. Those things are hard to recover from."
 
Elon finished Saturday's game shooting 14-of-19 from the charity stripe, while the Bulldogs concluded the night 12-of-23 from the line.
 
"Against a team like Elon, with how good they are, we needed to do a better job of taking advantage of our opportunities," said Seltzer. "We just can't make those kind of mistakes and expect to win."
 
Samford's Tim Williams led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' native of Chicago, Ill., also pulled down seven rebounds and tallied a pair of steals. Kelly came off the bench to score 17 points in 29 minutes of action and moved into 20^th place on the school's all-time scoring list.
 
Kelly, just a junior, has already scored 1,037 points in his Samford career and passed both Mario Lopez and Trey Montgomery on the Bulldogs' all-time list Saturday.
 
Isaiah Williams proved to be Samford's third double-digit scorer against Elon. The Bulldogs' dynamic 6-foot-1 point guard from Buford, Ga., finished 5-of-7 from the floor and grabbed two rebounds in just 19 minutes of game action.
 
Elon concluded Saturday's matchup with all five of its starters scoring in double figures and was paced by both Jack Isenbarger and Sebastian Koch with 17 points apiece.
 
The Phoenix out-rebounded Samford, 35-30, and outscored the Bulldogs, 40-32, in the paint. Samford only committed six turnovers Saturday, but Elon just committed seven.
 
The Phoenix drained six first-half 3-pointers to jump out to a 43-32 advantage at the intermission. Elon registered a 50-percent shooting mark in the opening period (16-of-32) and went 6-of-15 (40 percent) from beyond the arc.

"Elon is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country and they are by far tops in our league," Seltzer said. "That's what they do. Tonight, they hit a couple with hands in their faces, but again we can't make those mistakes of not knowing where there 3-point shooters are, because that one time that you make that mistake, they'll make you pay."
 
Samford shot 39.4 percent from the field in the first half and finished 1-of-6 from long range in the opening 20 minutes of action.
 
The Bulldogs' Kelly led all scorers with 11 first-half points, while reigning SoCon Player of the Week Tim Williams followed with nine points and five rebounds.
 
Koch paced Elon with 10 points in the opening half as the Phoenix's starting five combined to score 36 of the team's 43 points in the first period.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Feb. 24 at 6:05 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their current three-game road stretch at The Citadel in the SoCon Game of the Week to be held at McAlister Field House in Charleston, S.C. The contest will be televised on CSS, as well as online via ESPN3.

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