The Elizabethtown men’s basketball team fell to the University of Scranton this past weekend, by a score of 65-43 in favor of the Royals. The first half was back and forth, with the two teams trading the lead often. However, midway through the half, Scranton showed signs of pulling away, jumping out to a 26-15 lead. The half ended 28-20 with Scranton in the lead, which left hope for the Blue Jays to rally back and win with another half to play.
At the start of the second half, the Royals quickly made the score 30-20, jumping out to a double digit lead. They did not look back, only allowing Etown within five points at one time in the second half. It was the closest the Blue Jays would come. Senior Lee Eckert finished the game with a team-high 13 points. Seniors Evan Hathaway and Phil Wenger came in behind, with eighth and six, respectively. The team finished the game 32.7 percent from the field, which is a drop from their previous games, where they were hovering in the low 40 percent range.
“We played really hard on Saturday and played solid defense throughout the whole game,” sophomore center Josh Eden said of the Blue Jays’ performance. “However, we just couldn’t consistently put the ball in the hoop. We had a chance in the second half to make a run but just could not score.” The Jays were unable to make anything of the chances they were offered.
Senior guard Joe Bodnar also had an opinion about the Blue Jays’ defense. “As a team, we played good defense. We also played really hard throughout,” he said. Eden said Head Coach Bob Schlosser was relatively upbeat. “He was disappointed about the loss, but thought we played extremely hard and never quit. It just came down to us not being able to hit shots,” Eden said. Bodnar’s comments mirrored Eden’s. “The coaches thought we played very hard and our effort was there, but we just didn’t make shots,” Bodnar said. “Our defense kept us in the game but our offense let us down.”
Last night, the team traveled to Washington, DC, to face a strong Catholic University squad. Sitting at 17-3, 9-0 at home, Catholic is the top seed in the Landmark Conference. The Cardinals are the only Landmark team to have already clinched a playoff spot.
The Blue Jays hoped to learn from their last loss and grab the win at Catholic. “Just like with any loss we’ll learn from it and try to improve and get better as a team. We’ll really try to focus on execution and making shots,” Bodnar said. “If we want to make a run in the playoffs we will definitely see Scranton again and use our first two losses against them as some motivation.”
Eden’s feelings were more succinct, and definitely directed right at the looming figure of the Catholic Cardinals, “We are going to have two solid days of practice and go out on Wednesday confident as ever and try to beat a very good Catholic University team.”
The Blue Jays started the game shooting 64 percent from the field, grabbing an 18-6 lead over the Cardinals. Catholic fought back to cut the deficit to one at halftime, 34-33. Eckert led all scorers at the half with 14 points, while senior Tyler Simpkiss chipped in with 11.
Catholic turned up the heat in the second half, turning a once 12-point deficit into a 60-50 lead over the Blue Jays late into the game. Etown fought hard to get back into the game, tying the game at 62 on a steal and fastbreak layup by Wenger. Wenger’s steal was his 236 of his career, setting the all-time men’s basketball steals record.
Catholic knocked down free throws with under a minute to go and held Etown without a good shot on their final few possessions, escaping with a 68-65 win over the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays still hold sole possession of fourth place in the Landmark Conference with a 6-6 record and a one game lead over Drew University and Juniata College.
