The Elizabethtown College men’s basketball team hosted Susquehanna University on Saturday, Jan. 24, where the team’s four-game winning streak came to an end. The Susquehanna Crusaders finished the game on top with a score of 65-49. “We were ready and excited to play,” senior Lee Eckert said. “We had just won four straight and thought we had a good chance of winning. If we could win we would put ourselves in a great position for the playoffs.”

Both teams came into this contest with a four-game winning streak, but the Blue Jays struggled offensively in the first half. As a whole, the team shot nine of 29 in the first 20 minutes of play. Tyler Simpkiss had four of their nine made baskets. “Our conference play has been up and down this season so we need to start playing better against the teams that will be in the playoffs,” Simpkiss said. “My mindset heading into the game was winning and executing on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game.”

The game was tied with 6:04 left in the first half and it was Susquehanna that took over. From there, the Crusaders went on a 17-5 run to take the lead 23-11. The only shots the Blue Jays succeeded with during their opponents run were Eckert’s hook and Simpkiss’ three-pointer.

Susquehanna hit another three with 1:36 to play, making the lead 28-14, but two turnovers led to back-to-back layups by Simpkiss. Matt Lane found Josh Eden in the paint for another layup with four seconds left in the half, practically cutting the lead in half at 28-20 going into halftime.

The Blue Jays’ offensive struggles never turned around. The men’s team took a season-high 23 three-pointers, making only four of them. For the entirety of the game, Etown was held to a season-low 33.3 shooting percentage making only 19 of 57 from the floor.

Both Simpkiss and Eckert believe there are some improvements to be made moving forward. “We need to improve on our ball screening, defense and our zone offense,” Simpkiss said. In addition, Eckert said, “We need to improve on coming ready to play in big games. We need to make more shots and not get down early and play from behind. To make the playoffs, we will need to pretty much win out, so we need to come ready every night.”

Simpkiss finished the game with 11 points, making all of his baskets in the first half. Eckert had 10 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Matt Lapkowicz added eight points for the Jays. Senior Phil Wenger had six points and three steals for the night to tie the program’s career steals with 235, a record that has stood for 30 years.

Eckert and Simpkiss have high expectations for the rest of their last season with the Blue Jays. “We are going to take one game at a time and try our best to be in the playoffs at the end of the regular season,” Simpkiss said.

“Even after this game, we are still the fourth seed and we have enough talent to make it,” Eckert said. “With seven seniors who have never played in a college playoff game, our goal is to do that. Once you’re in, anything can happen.”

The Blue Jays return to play on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. at the University of Scranton.