Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Elon falls to #19 North Carolina State in BCA Classic

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Julius Hodge scored a game-high 21 points, pulled down a game-best seven rebounds and passed for five assists to lead 19th-ranked North Carolina State to a 71-45 win over Elon in the semi-finals of the BCA Invitational on Thursday night. With his performance, Hodge became the 18th player in the 52-year history of the ACC to record at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists.
The Phoenix (1-1) never led in the contest and did not score until Colin Wyatt (seven points) drained a jumper with 15:37 left in the first half that made the score 3-2. The Wolfpack (2-0) led by 19 with 3:00 left in the period, but Elon used a 10-4 run over that span to trim the margin to 32-18 at the break.

Elon would get no closer than 13 in the second half when Scottie Rice hit his only bucket of the night with 15:44 to play.

The Phoenix was led by Matt Nowlin's 16-point performance off the bench. Nowlin connected on 6-of-8 shots, including 4-of-5 from three point range. Simon Harris paced Elon on the boards, pulling down four of the team's 26 rebounds. Rice finished with three assists.

Ilian Evtimov added 10 points off the bench for N.C. State and Tony Bethel led all players with six assists.

Elon shot only 38.3 percent from the field compared to 50.9 percent for the Wolfpack.

The Phoenix will play Oregon State on Friday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. in the game for third place. N.C. State advances to Friday's 7:30 p.m. championship game where it will take on East Carolina.