2008-09 Men's Basketball Preview

The following preview is taken from the E-town College Website:

2008-09 Men's Basketball Preview

It was a tale of two seasons for the Elizabethtown College men's basketball team in 2007-08, as the Blue Jays roared through non-conference play with a 13-1 record and a national ranking, before a series of tight losses led the team to a 2-8 mark in Commonwealth Conference play.

With the loss of the conference's two top scorers to graduation, 19th-year head coach Bob Schlosser will need the rest of the squad to step up if the Blue Jays are to win the scramble for one of four conference playoff spots.

Spearheading the Blue Jay offense will be junior center Mike Church (Peach Bottom, PA/Solanco), who averaged 11.7 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game last season while leading the Commonwealth Conference with 36 blocked shots.

The other returning starter is senior point guard Phil Schaffer (Marmora, NJ/Ocean City), who dished out a league-best 114 assists in 24 games (4.75 per game) and was second on the team in steals with 49 while averaging 4.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

Junior forward Josh Houseal (Landisville, PA/Hempfield) will move into the starting lineup full-time after averaging 5.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in just over 20 minutes per game last season.

Sophomore guard Keith Fogel (Mifflinburg, PA/Mifflinburg) led the Etown bench in scoring last season at 5.9 points per game, while shooting 36.8 percent (14-for-38) from three-point range and coming up with 36 steals.

The fifth member of the starting lineup is junior swingman Chris Fairbanks (Lititz, PA/Warwick), who missed all of last season with a knee injury but is back to full strength and expected to play a key role in the Etown attack.

Key bench roles will be played by junior guard Chris Jones (Airville, PA/Kennard-Dale), sophomore guard Joe Flanagan (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) and sophomore center Chris Hill (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty).

Newcomers who could make an impact include guard Kyle McConnell (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest) and centers and Bryan Harrity (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) and Brian Allport (Quarryville, PA/Solanco).

Elizabethtown opens its 2008 season on Saturday, Nov. 15 hosting Alvernia University in Thompson Gymnasium. Commonwealth Conference action gets underway on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Lycoming College.