Box Score
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Elizabethtown College raced to a 34-20 halftime lead, then outscored Lebanon Valley 35-18 over the first 12 minutes of the second half as the Blue Jays cruised to an 80-63 win over the Flying Dutchmen in a Commonwealth Conference men’s basketball game Saturday afternoon at Thompson Gymnasium.
E-town (10-4, 2-2 CC), which won its fourth game in a row and its second straight Commonwealth contest, never trailed after scoring the first 11 points of the game. The Blue Jays, who shot 45.8% and 53.6% in the second half, had five players reach double figures in scoring, led by junior guard Greg Brizek’s 16 points.
Junior guard Hunter Bretschneider paced Lebanon Valley (7-8, 1-3 CC) with a game-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a 4-for-8 effort from three-point range.
Senior forward Dan Hogan added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds for LVC, which out-rebounded E-town 39-30, while junior guard Jimmy Curran had 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Kyle Enoch handed out a season-high six assists.
E-town snapped a three-game home losing streak to Lebanon Valley, as the Blue Jays had not defeated the Dutchmen in Thompson Gymnasium since Jan. 16, 2002.
Senior forward Brad Schreiber got into the paint and scored the Jays’ first six points of the game, prompting an LVC timeout. Brizek nailed a three-pointer and two free throws to make it an 11-0 game with 2:50 gone by before LVC got on the scoreboard following a Curran jumper with 16:56 on the clock.
A lay-up from senior forward Brian Schreiber with 6:55 left in the half gave E-town its second 16-point lead (31-15) of the half. LVC held the Jays scoreless over the next six-and-a-half minutes, during which the Dutchmen scored five points to make it an 11-point game after a lay-up from junior forward Dave Kasyan with 1:53 to go. But sophomore guard Michael Schatzmann nailed a three-pointer for E-town 39 seconds before the buzzer to assume its 14-point halftime lead.
Although LVC out-rebounded E-town 26-15 in the first half, the Dutchmen struggled with their shooting, going just 34.6% from the floor and 8.3% (1-for-12) from three-point range. Lebanon Valley was also 1-for-8 at the foul line in the opening stanza. The Blue Jays shot just 38.7% in the first half but came up with nine steals on 14 LVC turnovers.
The Dutchmen scored the first five points of the second half, and a driving lay-up from Curran with 18:01 left cut the deficit to single digits (34-25) for the first time since it was 13-4. After back-to-back E-town three-pointers, Enoch converted a conventional three-point play to make it a 12-point game, but that’s when the Blue Jays took control with a 10-0 run over a 2:29 span to craft a 22-point lead (50-28) with 14:29 left. E-town gradually pulled away and led by as much as 31 (74-43) with 6:16 to go. Lebanon Valley outscored the Jays 20-6 the rest of the way to set the final score.
Brian Schreiber had 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the E-town while Schatzmann finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Chad Piersol notched 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting while Brad Schreiber had 11 points. Senior guard Greg Adams led all players with seven assists.
Lebanon Valley returns to action on Wednesday, when it hosts Albright College at 7:30 p.m. in another Commonwealth Conference affair.
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