ROCK HILL, S.C. - The IUPUI basketball team dropped its opening game of the 2023 Rock Hill Classic on Friday night (Nov. 17) to Elon, 86-72 inside the Rock Hill Sports & Events Center.
Jlynn Counter scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and
Bryce Monroe and
John Egbuta finished with 10 points apiece. However, Elon buried the Jaguars in an avalanche of threes, connecting on 14-of-28 attempts from beyond the arc.
IUPUI shot 50 percent from the floor and outscored Elon 40-16 in the paint, but saw that margin easily offset by Elon's 14-4 margin in made threes. Nick Dorn and TK Simpkins scored 19 each for Elon and LA Pratt added 16 for the victors.
IUPUI (2-2) trailed by as many as 12 in the opening half as Elon came out scorching, particularly from behind the arc. Pratt capped a quick 7-0 run with a transition layup to boost Elon's lead to 25-13 at the 10:51 mark. Counter shouldered the load for the IUPUI offense early, scoring his 500th career point on the game's first possession to initiate his 16-point first half.
He stroked a step back three with the shot clock expiring to cut Elon's lead to six with just under seven minutes before intermission and then hit a mid-range jumper on IUPUI's next trip. IUPUI finally pulled even on a
DJ Jackson putback with 37 seconds left in the half as the first half ended at 36 all.
IUPUI took a brief 40-39 lead after
Yves Nkomba flushed an alley-oop with 18:45 remaining, but Dorn put Elon back in front by scoring the game's next four points. The Jaguars stayed in contact, despite Elon repeatedly knocking down triples, including a stretch of three consecutive Pratt makes on three trips midway through the second half.
The Jaguars trailed by just five with 4:03 left when
Vincent Brady II splashed a wing three, but Elon responded with a decisive 14-2 run that included three made threes and three free throws after Counter was whistled for a technical foul.
IUPUI was strong offensively, finishing at a season-high 50 percent from the floor and getting 33 bench points from the group of Egbuta (10), Brady (9), Jackson (8) and
Abdou Samb (6). However, Elon hit 9-of-13 (69.2 percent) from three in the second half alone to run away from the Jaguars. Dorn made 4-of-6 from deep in the second half and Pratt hit the three in succession to go 3-for-4 after intermission.
Rob Higgins piloted the Elon offense with seven points and 10 assists with no turnovers.
IUPUI will continue the Rock Hill Classic on Saturday (Nov. 18) when the Jaguars face host Winthrop at 5:00 p.m. inside the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center on ESPN+.
