WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The Elizabethtown College men's basketball team used a balanced offense and tenacious defense in order to earn its first win of the season Sunday afternoon at the Lycoming Dutch Burch Tip-Off Tournament. All-tournament team member Lee Eckert led three Blue Jays in double figures as the Blue Jays handled Penn State Schuylkill, 98-72.
A day after shooting just 34.4 percent from the floor in Saturday's loss to Plattsburgh State, Elizabethtown (1-1) nearly doubled its shooting percentage against the Nittany Lions (0-3). The Blue Jays finished the game 38-for-62 (61.3%).
They began the game 11-for-17 and built a 26-14 lead eight and a half minutes into the contest. The double digit advantage was a direct result of the first couple minutes as E-town ran out to a 12-0 lead before Schuylkill's Nate Yost knocked down a three-pointer with 16:06 on the clock. Phil Wenger and Tyler Simpkiss each had a steal and fastbreak layup to kickstart the Jays' first run of the game. Simpkiss drained a trey of his own in response to Yost's shot from beyond the arc.
The Blue Jays continued to build their lead, pushing it to 17, 34-17, with 7:48 remaining in the first half. By that point, eight different players had recorded at least a point for E-town. Coach Bob Schlosser's defense forced Schuylkill into 17 first-half turnovers. EC turned those into easy points. By the half, Elizabethtown was shooting 22-for-35 and led 53-35. Simpkiss closed out the first 20 minutes by connecting on his second trey of the game with eight seconds left.
Eckert had another impressive game, scoring 20 points for the second time in as many days. He finished an efficient 9-of-12 from the floor. Simpkiss pumped in 15 points (10 in first half) to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Josh Eden teamed with Eckert in the post and scored 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Wenger filled the stat sheet with nine points, seven assists and six steals. Joe Bodnar also dished out five assists, as E-town had 30 total.
The men's basketball team will remain on the road, playing at Lancaster Bible on Tuesday, November 18, at 7 p.m.
