Elizabethtown College’s men’s basketball team lost to Drew University by 18 points on Saturday, Jan. 29th. The game was the third straight loss for Etown’s men’s team.

The game was going to be a tough one from the start, as Drew won the Landmark Championship last year, and only has one conference loss on the season this year.

The game started strong for the Blue Jays as they had a one-point lead entering the second half. The defense from the Blue Jays was solid in the first half and they were able to keep up with the Drew offense.

The Blue Jays started the second half confidently and kept the game close until there were 12 minutes left, and then Drew started to pull away. Drew had success with three-pointers in the second half, which helped make it an 18-point game. Drew was nine for 15 from beyond the arc in the second half, which was hard to match for the Blue Jays. The Jays only hit a total of four three-pointers in the second half. The barrage of threes gave Drew an 88-70 win over the Blue Jays.

Despite the 18-point loss, some positives came out of the game. Four Blue Jays put up 10+ points. Fifth-year Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team with 15 points and two three-pointers. First-year Rance Russo also had a good game with 13 points, but he struggled from beyond the arch, only 1-7. Russo is off to a great first year, as he’s averaging over 14 points a game. Additionally, junior Dylan Rowe and sophomore Jared Archer posted over 10 points during the game.

Men’s basketball is off to a rough start this season, as they are 1-6 in conference play. They have 7 games left in the season, all of which are conference games.

Men’s basketball will play next at Goucher College on Wednesday, Feb. 2nd. The Blue Jays defeated Goucher 77-69 earlier this season.