HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The opening 20 minutes of Thursday evening's Landmark Conference game at Juniata proved to be a struggle for the Elizabethtown offense. Though they only surrendered 26 points, the Blue Jays were held to 17, their lowest point total in a half this season, and could not recover in time to avoid their fourth straight loss, 56-46.

Tyler Simpkiss led three Jays in double figures with 12 points. Lee Eckert had 10 points and seven rebounds and Matt Lapkowicz had another nice game, scoring 10. The reserve guard from Harrisburg hit on 4-of-7 shots, including both of his 3-point attempts, and has now made six of his last eight from downtown.

Elizabethtown, which played without starting point guard Phil Wenger, fell behind 10-2 less than three minutes into the game and finished the half 1-of-7 from 3-point range. The Blue Jays (4-9, 2-3 Landmark) again blanked at the foul line, going 0-for-4 prior to halftime, and committed 12 turnovers.

Six different players scored points to start the second half, when the visitors put together an 18-9 run. Evan Hathaway put back his own miss and was fouled to bring the Blue Jays even for the first time at 35.

Lapkowicz would respond to a quick 5-0 Juniata (6-7, 1-4 Landmark) run by clicking off five consecutive points of his own to knot the game again at 40.

But at the worst time, Elizabethtown's offense went dormant for more than four minutes, setting up a 9-0 run for the Eagles that put them ahead 49-40 with 2:20 to play.

Trevor Clune hit three 3-pointers and scored a game-high 14 points to help Juniata to its first Landmark win of the season. Clune also had a team-high seven rebounds. Kyle Koehler scored 10 points and Justin Fleming had nine.

E-town shot 41.3% (19-of-46) in the game and 5-of-15 from 3-point land. Only six players scored for the blue and gray. Joe Bodnar and Hathaway had five and Josh Eden made a pair of baskets in support of the team's three double-figure scorers.

The Blue Jays will try to put an end to their four-game slide when they play host to Moravian at Thompson Gymnasium Saturday at 4 p.m.