Blue Jays win at Lycoming in league opener, 68-61

From the E-town College Website:

Men's basketball wins at Lycoming in league opener, 68-61

ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Elizabethtown 68, Lycoming 61

Click here for the box score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- A game-high 19 points from Joe Flanagan (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) lifted Elizabethtown College to a 68-61 win at Lycoming College in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action on Wednesday night at Lamade Gymnasium.

Mike Church (Peach Bottom, PA/Solanco) added 16 points for the Blue Jays (7-6 overall, 1-0 Commonwealth), who led for the game's final 30 minutes despite seeing the Warriors (6-5 overall, 0-1 Commonwealth) nearly erase a 13-point second-half deficit.

Flanagan, who sank three three-pointers to extend his streak of making at least one trey in each of Elizabethtown's 13 games this season, also pulled a team-high seven rebounds as the Blue Jays won in their first conference road game of the season for the first time since 2002-03.

Greg Sye led Lycoming with 15 points, while Brandon Wilkinson came off the Warrior bench to add all 14 of his points in the second half. Eric Anthony added 12 points in defeat for Lycoming, which forced Elizabethtown into just eight turnovers on the evening.

The Blue Jays held a 51-38 lead with 11:53 remaining following a basket from Josh Houseal (Landisville, PA/Hempfield), but the Warriors scored the next 10 points to cut the Elizabethtown advantage to 51-48 with 8:08 to go.

Elizabethtown regained an eight-point lead at 60-52 with 2:36 to go, but would not score another field goal until the final seconds as Lycoming crept back within three at 64-61 with 21 seconds to go.

Keith Fogel (Mifflinburg, PA/Mifflinburg) connected on a layup with nine seconds remaining to give the Blue Jays a 66-61 lead, and after a missed shot Church hit two free throws with two seconds left to set the final score.

Elizabethtown led 34-29 at halftime as both teams shot an identical 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) from the field. Church and Flanagan led the Blue Jays with 11 points apiece in the opening half while Sye paced the Warriors with 11 points.

Fogel finished with nine points for the Blue Jays, while Phil Schaffer (Marmora, NJ/Ocean City) and Chris Fairbanks (Lititz, PA/Warwick) netted seven points apiece in the victory. Elizabethtown finished 21-for-28 from the foul line, led by a perfect 6-for-6 performance by Flanagan.

From the Lycoming College Website:


Warriors come up short in Commonwealth opener

Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Lycoming College men’s basketball team dropped its Commonwealth Conference opener, 68-61, against Elizabethtown on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The first half saw 11 lead changes and three ties in the first 10 minutes of play before the Blue Jays took a 20-18 lead with 9:20 to play in the half. Their lead increased to as much as six points before Lycoming brought it back to within one at 28-27 with 2:55 to play, but Elizabethtown closed the half with a 6-2 run to take a 34-29 lead into the intermission.

Both teams shot 44.4 percent from the field in the half, but Elizabethtown connected on 4-of-10 three-pointers and 6-of-7 free throws. The Warriors hit just 2-of-8 three balls and only converted on all three of their trips to the charity stripe.

The Blue Jays opened the second half by pushing the lead up to 13 points at 51-38 with 11:53 to play before the Warriors clawed back into the game with a 10-0 run, bringing the score to 51-48 with 8:08 to play.

Etown responded with a five point run of its own to push the lead back out to eight points, but a resilient Lycoming team fought back to within three points at 64-61 with 21 seconds left.

The Blue Jays were able to convert a layup with nine seconds left and hit two free throws as the clock wound down to seal a 68-61 win.

Greg Sye (Chantilly, Va.) led the Warriors with 15 points, but played only 27 minutes with foul trouble. Brandon Wilkinson (Piscataway, N.J.) scored 14 second half points, including three three-pointers to keep Lycoming in the game. Eric Anthony (Wheeling, W.V.) added 12 points and Will Kelly (Williamsport, Pa.) finished with nine points and nine rebounds.

Elizabethtown was led by Joe Flanagan’s 19 points and seven rebounds. Mike Church added 16 points.

The Warriors finished with a 43.1 shooting percentage from the field to the Blue Jays’ 41.2 percent. Lycoming was called for 25 fouls to Elizabethtown’s 14.

The loss drops the defending Commonwealth regular season champions to 6-5 overall and 0-1 in league play. Elizabethtown improves to 7-6 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

The Warriors will host Widener in a Commonwealth Conference game on Sunday, Jan. 11, at Lamade Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. and will follow the women’s game, set for 1 p.m.

From The Williamsport Sun-Gazette:

Lycoming men fall to Elizabethtown

By Christian Ingram,
cingram@sungazette.com

A popular saying throughout college circles is "If I don't remember it, it didn't happen."

For first-year head coach Guy Rancourt and the Lycoming men's basketball team, they might have done well to look to the past before Wednesday's home 68-61 loss to the Elizabethtown Blue Jays.

Last season the Warriors (6-5, 0-1 MAC) swept the Blue Jays (7-6, 1-0 MAC) in both home and road encounters, and that was with Elizabethtown still having the MAC's top two scorers on their roster.

Wednesday night, however, was a different story. Rancourt knew he was in for a fight before the game when he stated the keys to a Warrior victory would be beating Elizabethtown's multiple-press defense and winning the battle of the boards.

"From a press standpoint, our guys did a great job," said Rancourt. "On the rebounding end we were let down big time. We need to be a lot tougher on the boards and defensively and we can't allow the inside-out game that they had working tonight."

The aforementioned offense wasted little time kicking it into high gear as Elizabethtown came out firing from the perimeter early. Joe Flanagan, who finished with a game-high 19 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and Mike Church, who dropped 16 points himself, were constant thorns in the side of the Warriors, opening up an early lead with great work on the perimeter.

Lycoming apologists will cite the officiating in last night's game as a large factor in the loss. The Warriors sent the Blue Jays to the line 28 times while making the trip only 12 times themselves. Numerous calls had the crowd at Lamade Gymnasium voicing their disapproval quite loudly and angrily. Despite appreciating his fans' support, Rancourt respectfully disagreed with that notion.

"Officiating doesn't play a role," Rancourt said firmly. "It's how we play the game. We needed to step up and rise to the challenge and we left a lot to be desired tonight.

The Warriors put up a solid effort on offense in keeping the game close. Forward Greg Sye scored a team-high 15 points, but the man who kept the Warriors' heart beating was reserve guard Brandon Wilkinson. The seldom-used senior only averages 6.7 minutes of action so far this season, Wilkinson went 3-5 from downtown, all clutch shots that kept Lycoming close, and finished with 14 points.

Will Kelly also had a good night for the Warriors, scoring nine points and hauling in a game-high nine rebounds, but the Elizabethtown press forced too many mistakes. The Blue Jays won the turnover battle 15-8 and were also able to narrowly edge the Warriors 32-30 on the glass, differentials that proved to be too difficult for Lycoming to overcome.

The Warriors will be in action again on Sunday afternoon when they host Widener, but Rancourt said he won't be wasting time in making sure his team understands the severity of the situation they now find themselves in, having just lost their first back-to-back contests this season.

"We'll address tonight's effort right here tonight," said Rancourt. "At midnight we're going to turn the page, put all this behind us and start to get ready for Widener.

Hope the Warriors brought their Red-Bull and No-Doz. From the edge in Rancourt's voice, it was likely to not only be a long night, but one they won't be forgetting easily.