Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Phoenix Drop Exhibition Game To Athletes In Action

ELON, NC -- Four players tallied double digits in scoring to lead Athletes in Action to a 73-62 men's basketball exhibition victory over the Elon Phoenix on Saturday night at Alumni Gym on the Elon campus.

Athletes in Action used a 23-9 run over the last 13:36 of the first half to turn an 11-10 Elon lead into a 34-19 Athletes in Action lead at the break and never looked back.

The Phoenix would try to make a run in the second half, cutting the deficit to as little as six when Rasmi Gamble sank a layup with 7:53 remaining to make the score 55-49. From that point on Elon would not get any closer than seven.

Elon's Gary Marsh led all scorers, finishing the night with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 from the line. Rasmi Gamble and Chris Chalko each poured in 10 points for the Phoenix. Marsh finished one rebound shy of a double-double, leading all players with nine in that category. Gamble finished the night with six caroms. Montell Watson led Elon with five assists.

Donte Quinine and Ryan Sears each netted 14 points for Athletes in Action, while Matt Hill scored 13 and Shawn Redhage another 12. Joe Modderman, Solomon Hughes and Eric Hickenbottom all had a team-high four rebounds on the night. Ryan Sears led all players with seven assists.

On the night Elon shot 43.9 percent from the floor compared to 57.8 percent from the floor for Athletes in Action. The Phoenix also connected on 7-of-17 shots from beyond the arc, while Athletes in Action went 6-of-9 from long range.

This was the only exhibition contest of the season for Elon. The Phoenix will open its regular season on Nov. 17 at the Guardians Classic in Columbia, SC where it will face Idaho in the first game.