Blue Jays roll past Lebanon Valley, 70-53

From the E-town College Website:

1/21/2009

Men's basketball rolls past Lebanon Valley, 70-53

ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Elizabethtown 70, Lebanon Valley 53

Click here for the box score

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Joe Flanagan (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) drilled four three-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points as Elizabethtown College routed Lebanon Valley College 70-53 in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action at Thompson Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

Keith Fogel (Mifflinburg, PA/Mifflinburg) added 15 points and seven rebounds as the Blue Jays (9-8 overall, 3-2 Commonwealth) shot 49.2 percent (30-for-61) from the field as a team and led by as many as 23 points in the second half against the Flying Dutchmen (7-9 overall, 1-4 Commonwealth).

Dan Dunkelberger led Lebanon Valley with 11 points, while Kyle Enoch finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and six steals and became the 31st player in program history to reach 1,000 points on a three-pointer with 9:13 to play.

Elizabethtown led from the game's opening possession, opening up a lead that grew to 36-18 at halftime. Fogel led all players with 13 points in the first half as the Blue Jays shot 51.6 percent (16-for-31) from the field and forced the Flying Dutchmen into 15 turnovers.

The Blue Jays continued to maintain a sizable second-half lead, opening their advantage to as many as 23 points at 56-33 with 10:40 to go. The 17-point margin of victory was the closest that the Dutchmen would get over the final 20 minutes of play.

Strong play came from Elizabethtown's post players, as starting center Mike Church (Peach Bottom, PA/Solanco) finished with eight points, seven rebounds and four assists while backups Bryan Harrity (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) and Chris Hill (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) added seven and six points, respectively.

Lebanon Valley finished 16-for-47 (34.0 percent) from the field as a team, including 4-for-19 from three-point range. A 21-9 disparity in fouls allowed the Dutchmen to go to the line 28 times compared to seven attempts for the Blue Jays, but Lebanon Valley hit just 17 shots (60.7 percent).

From the Lebanon Valley College Website:

1/21/2009 8:21:28 PM

Box Score
Photo Gallery

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. - Kyle Enoch scored his 1,000th career point, but that was just about the only highlight for Lebanon Valley as they were routed, 70-53, by Elizabethtown College in a mid-week Commonwealth Conference game at Thompson Gym.

Enoch became the 31st student-athlete in program history to reach the millennium mark when he drained a three-pointer from the top of the arc with 9:13 left in the second half.

The Dutchmen (7-9, 1-4 CC) turned the ball over 15 times in the first half to fall into an 18-point halftime hole that they never climbed out of. The Blue Jays (9-8, 3-2 CC) shot a solid 48.3 percent overall and were led by 18 points from Joe Flanagan.

Dan Dunkelberger led LVC scorers with 11 points. Enoch finished with 10 and six steals, and now has 1,004 career points.

Elizabethtown was effective in transition all night long, capitalizing on LVC miscues throughout the game. After LVC pulled within a point in the early going, E-town sparked a 7-0 run off a pair of LVC turnovers, then used a Keith Fogel fastbreak off a steal to take the lead to double digits. Their lead never fell below 10 as the Blue Jays ended the half with a 7-0 spurt to take an 18-point halftime lead.

The second half was more of the same as Mike Church made the opening layup to go up 20. The Blue Jay lead hovered around that mark for the rest of the game as LVC simply couldn't kick-start its own offense while solving E-town's uptempo play.

LVC will take a break from conference play and visit SUNY Cortland on Sunday.

From the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal:

Elizabethtown goes on defensive

Schaffer, Fogel spark win over rival LVC, 70-53

Intelligencer Journal
Published: Jan 22, 200901:46 EST
Elizabethtown

By JASON FULGINITI, Sports Writer

Considering they're generally two of the smaller guys on the court, it might seem hard to view Phil Schaffer and Keith Fogel as weapons for Elizabethtown College's men's basketball team.

But failing to do so would also be a grave mistake.

And as of Wednesday night, you can count Lebanon Valley as one of the teams that understands that.

Ignited by the floor leadership of Schaffer, a 5-foot-9 senior point guard, and 13 first-half points from Fogel, a 6-foot sophomore guard, Elizabethtown jumped out to a 36-18 halftime lead before rolling to a 70-53 victory over Commonwealth Conference rival LVC Wednesday night in E-town's Thompson Gym.

Sophomore forward and Lancaster Mennonite product Joe Flanagan finished with a game-high 18 points for the Blue Jays, while Fogel chipped in 15 to go with his game-high seven rebounds.

Junior center Mike Church, a Solanco graduate, also hauled down seven boards for E-town, which used a stifling defensive energy to create 15 LVC turnovers in the first half and set the early tone.

"We defended with a presence tonight and I thought we shared the ball well," E-town coach Bob Schlosser said afterward. "At this time of year it's not so much physical as it is mental, and we got ourselves ready to play tonight. We wanted to come out and play hard and with a lot of energy and we did."

It was the kind of win, perhaps, that couldn't have come at a better time for the Jays (9-8 overall, 3-2 CC), who face a tough road game at Arcadia Saturday, before getting a bye next week.

"If you drop this one, not only are you 2-3 (with seven conference games remaining), but you lost a home game," Schlosser said. "And we want to get to a point in two or three weeks where we can control our own destiny (for making the conference playoffs). And right now, we can still control that."

Sparked by an all-around defensive effort, E-town wasted little time taking control against the Flying Dutchmen (7-9, 1-4), who were pressured into a 6-for-20 shooting performance from the floor in the first half, including a dismal 1-for-9 clip from behind the 3-point line.

Credit some of that to the energy and animated vocal leadership of Schaffer.

"My role sometimes is obviously not about scoring, it's getting guys to play hard," said Schaffer, who finished with two points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals. "To say what (my motivation) is, it's just that I pride myself on defense."

Meanwhile, Fogel began taking care of matters on the other end, especially after Flanagan hit a jumper that gave E-town an 18-10 lead with 13:54 left before the break.

Starting with a layup that pushed the Jays' advantage to 20-10 with 12:26 left in the half, Fogel scored 11 of E-town's next 18 points — fueling an 18-8 run that put the Jays up 36-18 at intermission.

E-town eventually boosted its lead to 23 points (58-35) in the second half.

Led by Fogel (7-for-13) and Flanagan (7-for-15), E-town shot 49.2 (30-61) percent from the floor as a team by game's end, including a 51.6 percent mark in the first half.

Not surprisingly, many of those buckets came in transition off of the 20 turnovers LVC committed on the night.

Perhaps the lone highlight for the Dutchmen Wednesday came from senior guard and Hempfield grad Kyle Enoch (10 points), who drained a 3-pointer with 9:13 left in the game to cross the 1,000 point plateau for his career.

"I took that personally," Schaffer said. "(Enoch) is a good player, but we wanted to keep him from getting that (milestone) tonight."

Always the defender.

And therefore, always a weapon.

E-mail: jfulginiti@lnpnews.com

Finally, from the Lebanon Daily News:

LVC spin continues at E-town

By JEFFREY FALK
Daily News Sportswriter
Lebanon Daily News
Updated: 01/22/2009 10:45:57 AM EST

ELIZABETHTOWN — It’s still trying to figure out exactly what it’s good at.

It’s still groping for player combinations that work well together.

It’s still trying to identify its personality.

The 16th game on the Lebanon Valley College men’s basketball team’s 2008-09 schedule was last night’s 70-53 loss at Elizabethtown, its fourth in its last five outings. The Flying Dutchmen appeared confused and disorganized during the first half, one of their poorest 20-minute stretches of the year.

LVC never led and in falling into a 36-18 intermission hole shot the ball at a 30-percent clip and was guilty of 15 turnovers. The Blue Jays enjoyed a 16-2 first-half advantage in points off of turnovers.

Lebanon Valley fell to 7-9 overall and 1-4 in the Commonwealth Conference. Elizabethtown moved to 9-8 on the year and 3-2 in the conference.

“We’re fine,” said Lebanon Valley head coach Brad McAlester when asked about his team’s identity. “I think we’re pretty good at dribble drive. We get to the foul line. But we can’t turn the ball over that much.”

It was a 9-8 game four minutes in when the Blue Jays stepped on the accelerator. What ensued was a frantic 11-2 burst that gave E-town a 20-10 margin.

Then the Blue Jays notched the last seven points of the half to lengthen a 29-18 lead.

“Certain guys’ leadership I’m happy with,” said McAlester.

“Austin Kearns is a good leader. Dunk (Dan Dunkelberger) is a good leader.

“Anytime you lose by 17 points, you’re frustrated,” added McAlester. “They (the Blue Jays) just played more aggressive than us. We had 15 turnovers (in the first half). They beat us up pretty good.”

Dunkelberger led LVC with 11 points, and senior teammate Kyle Enoch notched 10, including the 1,000th of his career. Enoch entered the fray needing six to reach the coveted career plateau and got it on a 3-point field goal with 9:13 left that made it 58-38 E-town.

Elizabethtown freshman guard and former Cedar Crest standout Kyle McConnell scored four points in 13 minutes of action.

“It was fine,” McAlester said of his team’s focus. “They (the Blue Jays) played aggressive. That’s why we played poorly. We played better in the second half, but we played even. We had five turnovers in the second half.”

The Flying Dutchmen never seriously threatened the Blue Jays in the second stanza. The closest they could come was 40-23 on an Enoch trey 2:37 after halftime.

“We’ve got to get better,” said McAlester. “We’ve got to keep practicing, keep shooting and make good decisions.”