Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. - Dan Hodge canned two three-pointers in the final minute of the game to break a tie and lead Lebanon Valley College past Elizabethtown College, 78-70, in Commonwealth Conference action Saturday.
The Flying Dutchmen (9-14, 3-5 CC) stayed alive in the Commonwealth playoff race with the win, but the Blue Jays (15-7, 2-6) were all but eliminated with the loss.
The win, combined with losses by Messiah and Albright, put the Dutchmen a game behind those two teams for the fourth and final playoff spot. LVC could forge a tie with Messiah with a win over the Falcons on Tuesday.
The game was played on the 24th annual "Hot Dog" Frank Day, which commemorates the life of the late Frank Aftosmes, who was a dedicated supporter of LVC athletics. This year's recipient of the "Hot Dog" Frank Athletic Service award was Glenn Hall '49.
Hodge's pair of treys were just six of his game-high 25 points as the junior shot 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. Junior Kyle Enoch added 10 points and nine boards. Sophomore James Shinn added 12 points and six rebounds off the bench. Mike Church led the Blue Jays with 22 points, and Chad Piersol added 20.
Lebanon Valley shot 10-of-19 from three-point range for the game and 53.2 percent overall.
Elizabethtown erased a 10-point LVC lead in the final six minutes of the game to tie it at 68, but Hodge's three-ball from the wing put LVC ahead with a minute left, and another long bomb gave the Dutchmen a six-point lead with 40 ticks left.
The Blue Jays had led over the opening minutes, but LVC took the lead on Shinn's layup at 10:26 and worked up a seven-point lead by halftime, 38-31.
Elizabethtown opened the second half with a 7-1 run to cut LVC's lead to one after Piersol's layup two minutes into, but Enoch's trey gave LVC some breathing room coming out of a timeout. The Dutchmen worked their lead to 10 with a 9-1 run of their own, and held it there over the middle of the period to lead, 66-56, with 5:41 left in the game.
But Elizabethtown, needing a win to avoid elimination from the Commonwealth race, rang off six straight points to cut the lead to four, then tied the game moments later on Mike Schatzmann's three-point play with 1:31 remaining.
With the crowd sensing a fantastic finish, Hodge took the Dutchmen on his shoulders and canned two three-pointers over a 26-second span, and after Church's layup, the Blue Jays were forced to foul. Dustin Kerns made both of his tries with 18 seconds to go, and Enoch did the same with six ticks left to ice the game at 78-70.
Lebanon Valley now faces a huge game Tuesday night in its home finale against Messiah College at 8 p.m.
