Box Score
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — The Elizabethtown College men's basketball team built a 14-point halftime lead and then watched Lycoming cut a 23-point second half deficit to six, before holding on for a 76-66 Commonwealth Conference win Wednesday night at Thompson Gymnasium.
The Blue Jays' (12-3, 4-2 CC) swarming defense was the difference in the first half. E-town caused 14 Lycoming (12-5, 2-4 CC) turnovers and held Warriors' leading scorer Ihsaan Davis to zero points in the first 20 minutes. Elizabethtown scored 14 points off of Lycoming's turnovers.
E-town built an early 12-4 lead just five minutes into the game . The Jays were powered by six points from junior Brian Allport. The forward from Quarryville, Pa. netted a team-high 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the contest. Over the next five and a half minutes, the Blue Jays stretched their lead to 14 when senior Joe Flanagan connected on a 3-pointer to make it 26-12 with 9:34 remaining in the half.
With a little over five minutes remaining before halftime, senior Bryan Harrity scored a bucket to give E-town a comfortable 18-point lead, 38-20. Harrity finished with 11 points and four rebounds on the night.
E-town's strong play continued into the second half as the Blue Jays' lead ballooned to 23 points on a Dan Silver free throw at the 13:41 mark. Silver's charity stripe conversion ran E-town's advantage to 58-35.
The Blue Jays' offense hit a dry spell in the second half when the team failed to make a bucket for over seven minutes. Included in the offensive lull were five Elizabethtown turnovers.
Point guard Kyle McConnell dished out a career-high 12 assists in the victory. It was the second game of the junior's career in which he distributed 10 or more assists. Both of those games have come this season. McConnell came within two dimes of E-town's single-game assist record, which is 14 held by Rocky Parise who accomplished the feat in the 2000-01 season against Scranton and again the following season against Moravian.
The Warriors were led on offense by Will Kelly's 18 points. Lyco also received 11 apiece from Sebastian Sabella and Kevin Anthony.
The Blue Jays, who have now won three of their last four, are in action again Saturday, Jan. 22 at 3 p.m., as they meet up with conference foe Widener in Chester, Pa.