Wednesday, Feb. 14 in the Raymond DuFour Center at The Catholic University of America, the Cardinals barely managed to beat out the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays 74-72. The men’s basketball game, which was part of the Landmark Conference, was either in favor of the Blue Jays or a close match for a majority of the time.
Junior Matt Thomas put the first point on the board for Etown with a good jumper. At 13:40, sophomore Connor Moffatt made a three-pointer that would begin a lead lasting 10 minutes into the second half. Points were added on by Thomas, Moffat, juniors Brandon Berry and Jamil Pines-Elliott and sophomore Bryce Greene to bring the Blue Jays eight points ahead with nine minutes left in the first half.
The Cardinals began to close the gap until a three-pointer from Greene put Etown in the lead by 11 points. By the end of the first twenty minutes, the Blue Jays stayed ahead 36-32 thanks to layups by juniors Josh Christ and Michael Pastore.
The second half began with a three-pointer from Catholic, who made a hard push to bring their score up. Etown managed to stay at least one point ahead until 11:12, when the Cardinals tied the match up 50-50.
At 7:48, the Cardinals gained the upper hand and did not give up their lead for the remainder of the match. Pastore, Moffatt, Thomas, Berry and Greene continued to make plays and put points on the board, but it was not enough to defeat Catholic.
The Blue Jays had their final game for the season on Feb. 17. The Landmark Conference match was against Susquehanna University at the Houts Gymnasium. Etown’s chance to finish the season with a win was spoiled by the River Hawks, who took the 94-74 victory.
The lead in the first half switched between the two teams, until Susquehanna began to pull away at 11:45. With 7:04 left, the gap had widened to 13 points, but the Blue Jays fought back thanks to Thomas and sophomore Ethan DuBois. By the end of the first half, the River Hawks were ahead by only two points.
Susquehanna came out strong the second half, extending their lead to 14 points before midway into the half.
“We played well in the first half but got a little sluggish in the second half and could never recover,” Pines-Elliot noted.
The Blue Jays did not quit, fighting hard the whole game. This was not enough, however, as the River Hawks won with a 20 point lead.
“With this being our last game, most of our takeaways were for how we want to prepare for this next season. We talked a lot about how we can improve individually and as a team this offseason to come back as a better team and a Landmark Championship contender,” Berry said.
Etown seniors Matt Brickman and Will Jackson played in their final game as Blue Jays.
