Box Score
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Senior guard J.D. Byers erupted for a season-high 37 points and the Lebanon Valley College men’s basketball team defeated host Elizabethtown 71-64 in Commonwealth Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Thompson Gymnasium.
Lebanon Valley (15-5, 7-4 CC), which won its third game in a row, is now a half game in front of Widener (7-5 CC) for third place and one game behind Messiah for second in the Commonwealth Conference standings. Widener defeated Susquehanna 63-55 on Saturday, while Messiah (8-3 CC) beat Moravian 77-71.
Byers, who also handed out four assists, shot 9-for-18 for the game, including 7-for-13 shooting from three-point land. He was also 12-for-12 at the foul line and his 37 points marked his second-highest offensive output in his career, ranking only behind his 41 points in a double-overtime win over Messiah as a sophomore.
Senior forward Andrew Flynn led Elizabethtown (12-10, 6-5 CC), which lost for the first time in its last four games, with 15 points and a game-high seven rebounds. The Dutchmen held E-town guard Kyle Conrad, averaging 16.8 points per game entering the contest, to 10 points on 2-of-10 shooting.
Lebanon Valley’s win was its third straight at E-town and marked the sixth time in a row the visiting team won when the Dutchmen and Blue Jays met.
Byers was hot right from the start, scoring 13 of the team’s first 16 points. His three from the left corner put the Dutchmen up 8-0, and his fast-break lay-up made it 10-2 with 16:27 on the clock. Byers’ fourth three-pointer and 20th point of the game gave LVC its largest lead of the night (25-14) with 4:54 left in the first half.
Elizabethtown came right back with a 9-2 run, capped by a pair of Conrad free throws, to reduce the deficit to four (27-23) with 1:46 to go in the stanza. A Ben Tannous trey with 45 seconds left made it a four-point game (30-26) at the half.
The Blue Jays scored the first four points of the second half, and a Flynn jumper 1:05 into the period tied the game (30-30) for the first time since it was 0-0. The game would go back and forth for the rest of the afternoon before the Dutchmen pulled away late.
E-town tied it two more times before a pair of Flynn free throws with 15:11 left gave the Blue Jays their first lead (40-38) of the game. The next 7:47 included three ties and three lead changes, and a Brad Schreiber jumper tied the game 51-51 with 7:24 to go. However, a conventional three point play from senior center Brad Stigelman with 6:06 remaining put the Dutchmen ahead (54-51) for good.
A Conrad lay-up pulled E-town to within one (56-55) with 4:56 to go, but that’s as close as the Blue Jays would get.
Byers made a pair of big plays to give LVC some breathing room down the stretch. His no-look pass that set up a lay-up from senior forward Steve Buzinski made it a seven-point (63-56) game, and he drained his seventh trey of the night to put the Dutchmen in front by eight (66-58) with 1:03 left. The Blue Jays were unable to narrow the gap below six the rest of the way.
Lebanon Valley made the most of 23 second-half foul shots. After shooting 9-for-11 at the charity stripe in the first half, the Dutchmen went 17-for-23 in the second stanza. In the game’s finals 8:18, the Dutchmen were 15-for-19 at the line.
Besides Byers, no Dutchman scored in double figures. The Valley’s starting frontcourt of Buzinski, junior Dan Hogan, and Stigelman were all saddled with foul trouble, as each player picked up his fourth foul with over 10 minutes to play. However, none of those players fouled out. Buzinski posted nine points and five rebounds in just 24 minutes while Hogan pulled down a team-high six rebounds in 21 minutes of play. Stigelman had five points and three blocks in 26 minutes.
Sophomore forward Billy Orr posted seven points, three rebounds, and two blocks while playing a career-high 27 minutes. Sophomore guard Jimmy Curran added eight points for the Dutchmen.
With his third three-pointer of the game, Byers reached 1,710 career points, moving past Derek Hoppes ’80 for fifth on the Valley’s all-time scoring list. He currently has 1,734 points for his career.
Two other Blue Jays finished in double figures in scoring. Senior guard Jon Connor scored 12 points and handed out five assists while Schreiber had 11 points.
Lebanon Valley out-rebounded Elizabethtown 32-29. The Blue Jays finished with more offensive rebounds (15) than defensive boards (14).
The Dutchmen conclude their regular season with three straight home Commonwealth Conference games. The Valley hosts Widener at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in the nightcap of a men’s and women’s doubleheader.
[Photo - Senior guard J.D. Byers, who scored a season-high 37 points in Lebanon Valley's 71-64 win over Elizabethtown on Saturday]
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