Nov 20, 2013
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ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — The Elizabethtown College men's basketball team received 20 points from Andrew Mantz and a double-double from Lee Eckert, but fell to Eastern Mennonite, 94-84, in a frantically-paced home opener Wednesday night at Thompson Gymnasium.
Both the Royals and Blue Jays were willing to push the tempo early, as evidenced by 96 first-half points. Though the teams combined for 27 fouls and 30 free throw attempts before halftime, the shooters were hot at both ends.
Eastern Mennonite (2-1) connected on 21-of-33 attempts from the floor (63.6%), including 4-of-8 from three, while the Blue Jays were shooting at a 53.3% clip (16-of-30). Joe Schwalm, Joe Bodnar and Matt Ziegler each hit 3-pointers in the first half, as Elizabethtown (1-2) also buried 4-of-8 from distance.
Wednesday's offensive showcase got started early, with the visitors hitting their first five shots to take a quick 11-6 lead. But Elizabethtown fought back soon after to tie the game at 15 on back-to-back threes by Schwalm and Bodnar, and layups by Ziegler and Cory Stoltz.
Phil Wenger's kept E-town rolling with a 3-point play and Stolz found Eckert underneath to extend the Blue Jays' run to 15-4. Elizabethtown's 20-15 lead with 12:13 to play matched its largest of the half.
The Royals stayed close and capitalized late in the half with four points each from Woody Furbush and David Falk to cap a 12-5 run over the final 3:48 that gave them a 51-45 halftime lead.
An early second half dry spell would prove to be Elizabethtown's undoing on this night. Mantz had the Jays' only basket over a near four minute stretch, and EMU used the opportunity to put together a 15-2 run that extended a 53-49 lead to 68-51 with 15 minutes left.
Elizabethtown stuck with the Royals the rest of the way, twice cutting their lead under 10. E-town owned the paint, outscoring EMU 32-12 in the second half with Mantz (14 points) and Eckert (10) doing most of the damage. That wasn't enough to diffuse the large lead the high-octane Royals had built, however.
Falk led Eastern Mennonite with 22 points and 15 rebounds for his second double-double in three games this season. The 6-foot-6 center hammered down a handful of dunks and did little to diminish his rebounding prowess after another big output Wednesday. Falk came into the game averaging 17 rebounds per game.
Ryan Yates scored 20 for the visitors, tying Falk and RJ Sims for the team lead with four 3-pointers made. Sims had 13 and Marcel Crump 11, as four of EMU's five starters finished in double figures. Ryan Bush came off the bench to score 11 on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting (3-of-3 from 3-point range).
Mantz totaled 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 6-of-9 at the charity stripe. He led E-town with four steals and added six boards. The Blue Jays cooled off a bit in the second half, shooting 42.5%, but finished at 47.1% for the game.
Eckert racked up 18 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double this season, while Stoltz tallied 10 points off the bench.
Elizabethtown will try to regroup for a 3 p.m. Saturday matinee at Thompson Gymnasium against Gwynedd-Mercy.
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — The Elizabethtown College men's basketball team received 20 points from Andrew Mantz and a double-double from Lee Eckert, but fell to Eastern Mennonite, 94-84, in a frantically-paced home opener Wednesday night at Thompson Gymnasium.
Both the Royals and Blue Jays were willing to push the tempo early, as evidenced by 96 first-half points. Though the teams combined for 27 fouls and 30 free throw attempts before halftime, the shooters were hot at both ends.
Eastern Mennonite (2-1) connected on 21-of-33 attempts from the floor (63.6%), including 4-of-8 from three, while the Blue Jays were shooting at a 53.3% clip (16-of-30). Joe Schwalm, Joe Bodnar and Matt Ziegler each hit 3-pointers in the first half, as Elizabethtown (1-2) also buried 4-of-8 from distance.
Wednesday's offensive showcase got started early, with the visitors hitting their first five shots to take a quick 11-6 lead. But Elizabethtown fought back soon after to tie the game at 15 on back-to-back threes by Schwalm and Bodnar, and layups by Ziegler and Cory Stoltz.
Phil Wenger's kept E-town rolling with a 3-point play and Stolz found Eckert underneath to extend the Blue Jays' run to 15-4. Elizabethtown's 20-15 lead with 12:13 to play matched its largest of the half.
The Royals stayed close and capitalized late in the half with four points each from Woody Furbush and David Falk to cap a 12-5 run over the final 3:48 that gave them a 51-45 halftime lead.
An early second half dry spell would prove to be Elizabethtown's undoing on this night. Mantz had the Jays' only basket over a near four minute stretch, and EMU used the opportunity to put together a 15-2 run that extended a 53-49 lead to 68-51 with 15 minutes left.
Elizabethtown stuck with the Royals the rest of the way, twice cutting their lead under 10. E-town owned the paint, outscoring EMU 32-12 in the second half with Mantz (14 points) and Eckert (10) doing most of the damage. That wasn't enough to diffuse the large lead the high-octane Royals had built, however.
Falk led Eastern Mennonite with 22 points and 15 rebounds for his second double-double in three games this season. The 6-foot-6 center hammered down a handful of dunks and did little to diminish his rebounding prowess after another big output Wednesday. Falk came into the game averaging 17 rebounds per game.
Ryan Yates scored 20 for the visitors, tying Falk and RJ Sims for the team lead with four 3-pointers made. Sims had 13 and Marcel Crump 11, as four of EMU's five starters finished in double figures. Ryan Bush came off the bench to score 11 on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting (3-of-3 from 3-point range).
Mantz totaled 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 6-of-9 at the charity stripe. He led E-town with four steals and added six boards. The Blue Jays cooled off a bit in the second half, shooting 42.5%, but finished at 47.1% for the game.
Eckert racked up 18 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double this season, while Stoltz tallied 10 points off the bench.
Elizabethtown will try to regroup for a 3 p.m. Saturday matinee at Thompson Gymnasium against Gwynedd-Mercy.