ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — The leaders of the Elizabethtown College men's basketball team have done a fine job of carrying the team through the first third of its 2010-11 schedule. Wednesday night at Thompson Gymnasium, those leaders were leant a helping hand by the strong play of the Blue Jay reserves. The Elizabethtown bench scored 44 points and the Jays handily beat Penn State Berks 97-59.

Joe Flanagan continued to lead by example pouring in a team-high 18 points on the evening. He was joined in double figures by fellow starters Brian Allport (13) and Bryan Harrity (10). Elizabethtown (9-1) received stellar play off the bench as early as the first half, as the Blue Jays pushed their lead to 27, 49-22, at the half.

Ben Cable made the most of his extended minutes, as seven of his nine points on the evening came before halftime. Matt Brown scored four first half points and Andrew Mantz five. As a team Elizabethtown connected on 52.6 percent of its attempts (20-of-38) in the opening frame.

Contrary to the success of E-town was the offense of Penn State Berks (3-7). Two players split high-scorer duties in the half, as Michael Perone and Rory Sullivan each had five. The Nittany Lions were 9-of-36 from the floor (25 percent) and attempted only three free throws. The visitors' fortunes wouldn't get much better in the second half, where they trailed by over 30 points for a majority of the period.

Elizabethtown would see its largest lead of the night at 42 points (97-55) in the waning moments of Wednesday evening's game. That came on a three-pointer by Tom Cooney. Cooney finished with five points to go along with four rebounds. Twelve of E-town's 14 players scored in the contest.

Mantz continued to relish his role as the Jays' sixth-man. He snagged his first career double-double by scoring 13 points and collecting 10 boards. Cable, after doing most of his damage in the first half, finished with a career-high in points and was perfect from the field with a 4-for-4 effort.

The 97 points marked the second time this season that Elizabethtown has eclipsed the 90-point barrier. The Jays put up 92 in a win over Susquehanna last month. The last time E-town scored more than 97 points in a game was in a 105-52 victory at Lancaster Bible on Dec. 1, 2007.

Perone, who drilled a game-high four 3-pointers, finished with a team-high 14 for Penn State Berks. Rory Sullivan scored 10 and Shawn Green nine for the Lions. The Jays held leading scorer Tore Turner, who came in averaging 13 points per game, to just two on 1-of-10 shooting.

Kyle McConnell added to his team-lead in assists by handing out seven on the night. He was joined by teammate Keith Fogel, who also dished out seven dimes. Fogel pulled to within 21 points of 1,000 for his career, but struggled to a six-point outing after drilling a three to open the game.

Elizabethtown, which out-rebounded the Nittany Lions 55-35, will look for its 10th win of the season this Saturday as it travels to Alvernia for a 3 p.m. showdown. The Blue Jays and Crusaders are both unbeaten in league play heading into this weekend's match-up.