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ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — It's been a grinding year for the Elizabethtown men's basketball team. Wins haven't been as plentiful as the Blue Jays had hoped at season's start, and Wednesday night on their home court they found themselves in familiar territory, a one-possession game in the late going. Will Schlosser's heave from the left corner sent the Jays into euphoria as it tied the game, 70-70, at the second-half buzzer, but E-town was unable to capitalize in overtime, falling to Widener, 81-77.

Widener grabbed the early lead and ran with it to a 40-30 halftime lead. Joe Renzi's 3-pointer to start the second half started a 7-2 E-town (7-15, 4-11 CC) run that pulled the Blue Jays back within five. Widener would answer back almost immediately. Dillon Fields knocked down two free throws and reserve guard David Nicholson scored his first points of the game on a trey that negated E-town's run and rebuilt the Pride's (6-16, 5-10 CC) lead to 47-37 at the 15:34 mark.

The Jays are a scrappy bunch, and although coach Bob Schlosser wasn't thrilled with his team's overall performance in a loss that officially eliminated Elizabethtown from playoff contention, they picked up their games in the late going to force overtime.

Another Nicholson three had Widener up 50-42 with 13:55 left, but Lee Eckert started, and ended, a 10-4 Jays' run to bring his team back within two. Ryan Borzager and Joe Schwalm both hit shots from downtown in the run.

E-town continued to hit from the outside, as a Ben Cable three from the right wing brought the Blue Jays within 56-55 with 9:04 to play. On their next offensive possession, Phil Wenger drilled another to tie the game at 58.

Schwalm's second-chance jumper put E-town up 64-63 with just under four minutes to go, and it accounted for the home team's first lead since it was up 9-7 in the opening five minutes of Wednesday night's game. Widener scored the next five points, three of which were at the foul line, to take a 68-64 lead heading into the final 70 seconds of regulation.

Two Will Schlosser free throws closed Widener's lead to two at 70-68 with 17 ticks left. Needing to just put the ball in the hands of one of its guards, Widener couldn't do it, as Rodney Brown turned over the inbounds pass to Renzi, who alertly called a 30-second timeout. The Blue Jays nearly gave away the ball, as the Pride's fiesty defense forced a ball out of bounds all the way back on E-town's defensive baseline with 2.4 seconds left.

Schwalm's inbounds pass hit Cable just above the timeline, but heavily guarded, Cable just flung a pass into the right corner where Schlosser chased it down and let it fly as he was heading out of bounds. The improbable shot fell as the red lights appeared behind the backboard and the sophomore was mobbed by his teammates.

But the jubilation subsided midway trhough overtime, as Andrew Radomicki's 3-pointer with 1:46 left gave the visitors the lead for good, 77-74. The Pride hit all four of their free throws down the stretch to secure just their sixth win of the season.

Though he didn't factor into any of the pivotal plays down the stretch, Widener's Greg Lawson was just that for the better part of 40 minutes. One of the tallest Pride players at 6-foot-6, Lawson was a handful and then some for anyone E-town tried to put on him. He registered game-highs of 22 points and 21 rebounds to lead four Widener players in double figures. Five of Lawson's 21 boards —which were a single-game high in the Commonwealth Conference this season— came on the offensive end, leading to a 13-8 edge in second-chance points for Widener.

Every starter except Connor Dean was in double figures, scoring-wise. Radomicki had 14 points, Fields 13 and Brown 12. Nicholson finished with eight off the bench.

Andrew Mantz was E-town's top scorer with 15 on 7-of-12 shooting. Schwalm tallied 13, Schlosser 11 and Cable 10, for the Jays, who hit 11 3-pointers. Wednesday's game was the fifth time this season that Elizabethtown hit 10-or-more threes in a game, but first since Jan. 19, a span of seven games.

E-town shot better (43 percent to Widener's 37), but could not make up for a 47-39 rebounding disadvantage and a whopping 26 free throws made (26-for-35, 74.3%) by the Pride.

Elizabethtown travels to Hood Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off. The Jays defeated the Blazers, 65-64, on a last second shot back on Dec. 8.