DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Stephen Curry posted 39 points, and the Wildcats made 13-of-21 three-pointers to earn an 83-68 SoCon victory over Elon before a sellout crowd at Belk Arena Wednesday night.
It was the 200th win in the 20-year history of the facility and the 24th in a row. Curry finished the night shooting 11-of-18 from the field, including a season-high tying six 3-pointers, four of which came in the first half. The junior also went 11-for-12 at the free throw line on the way to his third-highest scoring total of the year.
Davidson (13-3, 6-0 SoCon) held Elon scoreless for nearly five minutes midway through the first half, during which the ?Cats scored 10 unanswered points to take a 22-12 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Curry knocked down a step-back 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to give Davidson a 35-17 advantage at the 6:38 mark. He hit another buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the half for his 23rd point of the frame, which gave the ?Cats a 46-24 lead going into the break.
The Wildcat defense held Elon (4-9, 1-4 SoCon) without a 3-pointer in the first half, and the Phoenix were unsuccessful on their first six attempts. Davidson connected on 8-of-11 from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 52 percent from the floor.
After Elon cut the deficit to 13 with just under 12 minutes to play, Davidson responded with a 9-2 run to push the lead back up to 18 points. Curry spearheaded the spurt, scoring 10 straight points. For the final 11 minutes of play, Davidson kept the lead above 15 points, hitting the 20-point plateau on five occasions during that stretch.
Max Paulhus Gosselin reached double figures for the second consecutive night with 10. It’s the first back-to-back double-digit scoring effort for the senior since he had three straight during the 2006-07 season.
As a team, Davidson shot a season-high 61.9 percent from behind the 3-point line, and just under 50 percent overall from the field, while keeping Elon to just four made 3-pointers for the game and 43.3 percent from the field. The Wildcats also held a 25-17 edge in second-chance points.
Ola Atoyebi led the Phoenix with 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting and a 9-for-9 effort from the free throw line to go along with eight rebounds.