The Elizabethtown College men’s basketball team started its season with an 82-55 victory over Gettysburg College on Friday in the Gettysburg Tip-Off Tournament.
The Blue Jays were able to defeat the Bullets thanks to a strong performance from their front line. Senior Andrew Mantz led all Etown scorers with 15 points. The Blue Jays dominated the host team on the boards, out-rebounding Gettysburg by nine to propel the Blue Jays to their first win of the season.
Etown trailed the Bullets early on in the game, but a three-pointer from senior Joe Schwalm and contributions from juniors Tyler Simpkiss and Evan Hathaway helped the Blue Jays go on an 11-0 run to put them up closing in on the half.
The Blue Jays rallied after Gettysburg’s Tanner Kirkpatrick hit back-to-back threes to tie the score up at 20. Etown went on another run, scoring the next seven points on layups by Simpkiss and junior Lee Eckert. Junior Joe Bodnar hit one of his two treys in the run to help the Blue Jays regain the lead.
Etown’s veteran experience was evident in its first game of the season. The Blue Jays made 12 of their first 23 shot attempts in comparison to six on Gettysburg’s first 20 tries. The Bullets put a young squad on the floor; eight of the 11 players Gettysburg put on the court were either first-years or sophomores. In comparison, 10 of the 14 players Etown played were upperclassmen. The Blue Jays headed into halftime with a formidable lead, 39-27.
Etown scored 11 of the first 12 points in the second half, keeping its foot on the gas to go up by more than 20 over the Bullets. In 22 minutes of playing time, junior point guard Phil Wenger recorded five steals, four assists and four points.
In the game against the Bullets, Simpkiss scored a career-high 15 points on five of eight shots to match Mantz for the team high.
Mantz led the Blue Jays on the boards with eight. Eckert totaled 12 points and seven boards. Schwalm added 11 points on the night for an Etown team that had four players with double digit scoring performances. Led by Schwalm, Etown was 10 of 18 from behind the arc.
With the victory, the Blue Jays advanced to Saturday’s championship game at the Gettysburg Tip-Off Tournament, where they faced DeSales University.
“We were really happy to get our first win under our belts. Gettysburg had a young team, but came ready to play,” senior captain Ryan Borzager said. “We wanted to come out strong and I think we accomplished our goal.”
The Blue Jays seemingly had the Gettysburg Tip-Off Tournament title in their grasp with 10 minutes left to go in the contest. In the remaining 10 minutes, Desales outscored Etown 34-16 to claim the championship, defeating the Blue Jays 73-67.
Despite the loss, Mantz was able to post a 16-point day. The center even made the first three-pointer of his career. Mantz added 12 rebounds and five blocks on the day to earn all-tournament team honors.
The Blue Jays were consistent from behind the arc in the tournament, nailing seven threes in the first half and 10 for the game. Etown hit for 10 three-pointers against Gettysburg the previous day as well.
Schwalm hit a game-high four three-pointers to finish with 14 points and was named to the all-tournament team along side Mantz. Eckert scored 13 points and had seven rebounds, while Wenger had another strong performance, finishing with eight points, seven assists and three steals.
The Blue Jays will host Gwynedd-Mercy College on Saturday in Thompson Gymnasium at 3 p.m.
