It was Bob McKillop vs his protege, Matt Matheny. Matheny is in his first season as head coach of the Phoenix after 16 years as a Davidson assistant.
It was a run-and-gun game with huge swings of momentum. Davidson had a 15-0 run early led by the hot shooting of Brendan McKillop. Elon hit 13 of their last 15 shots in the first half to eliminate the deficit.
The game seemed all but over in the second half, until JP Kuhlman put the team on his back. The freshman from the Sunshine State hit two three pointers in the final thirty seconds to send the game to overtime.
A three-point play the "old fashioned way" by Brendan McKillop sent the game into a second overtime.
In the second OT Elon led by 3 points with 11 seconds remaining, when superstar JP Kuhlman missed a shot attempt that seemed to end the Wildcats hopes. Then out of nowhere fellow freshman Nic Cochran chased down an offensive rebound in the corner and kicked it to Brendan McKillop. Brendan shook his defender and knocked down his seventh three of the game with 1.9 seconds left.
The game appeared to be heading to a third overtime... until the Davidson captain showed up once again on a defensive play. Senior Steve Rossiter stole the inbounds pass in the left corner and threw up a prayer as he fell out of bounds. The shot fell and the Wildcat players stormed the court.
This game showed the heart of a Bob McKillop coached team. Davidson had locked up the third seed in the south in the Southern Conference Tournament. They would play Friday at 2 at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, win or lose. They trailed by 14 late in the game, but for some reason they continued to fight and to show why the Wildcats are such a successful program.
Friday's game will certainly be an interesting one as Matheny and McKillop meet again.
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