City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
--

After taking nearly three minutes to find its way onto the scoreboard to start the game, Drexel got things started in style going on a huge run to kick off its scoring in Saturday’s matinee contest against Elon.

But as it has been said time and time again, basketball is a game of runs.

Elon responded to Drexel’s run with an even more impressive one of its own to take the lead over the Dragons and the Phoenix never looked back, holding on to defeat Drexel by a score of 65-56 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.

The 26-6 run by the Phoenix to close out the first half following a 12-6 Drexel lead, on top of Drexel’s worst offensive half of the season, put the Dragons in too deep of a hole to dig out of as Elon would lead from the entirety of the game after taking a 13-12 lead with 12:19 to play in the first half.

“I thought there was a unique start to the game, for sure,” Drexel’s first-year head coach Zach Spiker said. “When you think about it and what all it was, they got a couple of buckets, we went on a run, and then they went on a run there. Defensively, it was not our best half but offensively it was our worst half so that’s a tough combination.”

The poor first half showing from Drexel saw the Dragons shoot 8-of-30 (.267) from the field and and even worse 2-of-17 (.118) from beyond the arc while also committing eight turnovers and missing all four of their free throw attempts.

Despite the early offensive struggles and falling behind by as much as 16 early in the second half, Drexel (9-20, 3-13 CAA) showed no signs of giving up as a stout defensive effort in the second half that held Elon (17-12, 9-7 CAA) to 8-of-25 (.320) from the field and 4-of-16 (.250) from beyond the arc willed the Dragons back into the game and cut the deficit to seven with just under a minute left to play.

“I’m proud of this team. I’m proud of their fight. We were in a game and there was belief in that huddle that we could make something happen, but we just weren’t able to dig into it and force a tighter game,” Spiker said. “I think it’s one of our better defensive performances this year but it’s hitched to one of our worst offensive performances so it doesn’t get the credit that it should.”

Even though most of the offense for Drexel struggled, with six of the nine players who saw action combining to score just seven points, the Dragons got two solid performances on the offensive end from freshman Kurk Lee and senior Mohamed Bah.

Lee, a 5-foot-10 guard, was a major contributor to Drexel’s struggles in the first half as he shot 1-of-8 from the field and 1-of-7 from beyond the arc before the intermission. Out of the half, a completely different Lee took the floor. Lee’s solid second half was a huge reason why Drexel found itself in the game with under a minute to go and the Baltimore (Md.) native used that strong half to finish with 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

“He’s done a really good job of having an awful lot asked of him to do every game. Not only is he the straw that stirs the drink, a lot of games he’s also the drink. I’m proud of Kurk,” Spiker said. “You look at his numbers, that’s a pretty full game by a freshman point guard and he’s deserving of the attention that every team pays him as a threat. He is a threat.”

Even more impressive that Lee’s performance though, was that of Bah. The 6-foot-9 senior who averages 3.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 10.2 minutes per contest exploded on Saturday for new career-high of 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 12 rebounds in 29 minutes of action in one of his last games wearing the blue and gold.

“The game determines who plays the most and who plays the best usually plays the most,” Spiker said. “I thought he was our best big by far tonight and he deserved the minutes he got.”

On the other side, Elon got three stellar performances from the likes of Brian Dawkins, Tyler Seibring and Dainan Swoope.

Dawkins finished with 13 points and five rebounds, while Seibring matched his rebound total and added in just one more point but it was Swoope who really got things going for the Phoenix on Saturday.

On top of his 21-point, eight-rebound, three-assist and two-steal performances, Swoope drilled three huge three-pointers during the first half run that were all more damaging to Drexel than the one prior.

“They’re consistent offensively, they’re consistent defensively, they’ve got a plan and they know what they’re doing and they executed,” Spiker said. “They just made shots.”

Saturday’s game was the second in a row for Drexel without its fourth-leading scorer and usual starter Kari Jonsson, who has been sidelined due to a nagging injury, but Spiker hopes that the Iceland native’s return is on the horizon.

“It’s something that we’re hopeful we get him back before the season is over, before we’re done playing basketball this year,” Spiker said. “We’re not going to make any decision that’s not in his best interest but we do remain hopeful that we can get him back on the court this season.”

As Drexel will host James Madison (8-20, 6-10 CAA) on Thursday for its senior day, the Dragons hope that the potential return of Jonsson along with a few days off can turn things around for them and help them finish the season on a high note.