Blue Jays defeat Albright 68-64 to advance to conference finals

From the E-town College Website:

2/25/2009

Men's hoops defeats Albright 68-64 to advance to conference finals

ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S BASKETBALL

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Elizabethtown 68, Albright 64

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READING, Pa. --- For the first time since 2004, the Elizabethtown College men's basketball team will play for the Commonwealth Conference championship as the Blue Jays defeated host Albright College 68-64 in a semifinal game at the Bollman Center on Wednesday night.

The Blue Jays (14-11 overall) will travel to top-seeded Widener University for Saturday's championship game at 3:00 p.m. after the Pride defeated Messiah College 76-61 in Wednesday's other semifinal contest.

Mike Church (Peach Bottom, PA/Solanco) scored 17 points to lead the Blue Jays, who held the Lions (17-9 overall) to 28.1 percent shooting (9-for-32) from the field in the second half, including 13 straight misses to open the half, after shooting 59.3 percent (16-for-27) in the opening 20 minutes.

Phil Hall led the Lions with game highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds, but Albright could not turn a 43-28 rebounding advantage to their benefit. The Lions were also plagued by 16 turnovers while the Blue Jays committed just nine miscues.

Keith Fogel (Mifflinburg, PA/Mifflinburg) added 13 points for the Blue Jays while Joe Flanagan (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) tallied 12 points and a team-high six rebounds for Elizabethtown, which will play for its first conference title since winning the last of three in a row in 2004.

Trailing 55-50 with 7:12 to play, the Lions tied the game at 57-57 on a reverse layup by Hall with 4:48 to play, only to see Church put the Blue Jays back on top 61-57 courtesy of two foul shots with 4:29 remaining and a reverse layup with 3:39 left.

Albright responded with five straight points to take a 62-61 lead on a layup by Zac Shaeffer with 2:01 remaining, but backup center Bryan Harrity (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) hit a baseline jumper with 1:29 to go to put Elizabethtown back on top for good at 63-62.

After Hall misfired on the potential go-ahead basket, Keith Fogel (Mifflinburg, PA/Mifflinburg) hit the Blue Jays' biggest shot of the season as he canned a three-pointer with 48.7 seconds left to give Elizabethtown a 66-62 lead.

Matt Bazsika put back a missed three-pointer with 35.5 seconds left to bring Albright back within 66-64, but Phil Schaffer (Marmora, NJ/Ocean City) hit a foul shot with 34.7 seconds to play to give Elizabethtown a three-point lead.

Looking for the tie, the Lions threw the ball away under their own basket with 22.8 seconds to go, and Josh Houseal (Landisville, PA/Hempfield) drilled a foul shot with 22.0 seconds remaining to push the Etown lead to 68-64. Two last-ditch field-goal attempts by the Lions were not close, and the Blue Jays came away with the win.

Both teams set a blistering pace from the field in the opening 10 minutes, each shooting over 50 percent from the floor as Albright held a 23-22 lead with 8:54 left in the first half despite 10 points from Fogel.

Albright led 37-33 at halftime as Hall hit his first six shots from the field en route to a game-high 12 points, while Fogel finished with 10 points to pace Elizabethtown.

The Lions cooled off from the field to open the second half, missing their first 13 field-goal attempts and going scoreless for 8 minutes, 13 seconds while the Blue Jays scored 12 of the half's first 14 points to take a 45-39 lead with 11:32 to go on a three-pointer by Mark Vogel (Landisville, PA/Hempfield).

Hall finally connected on Albright's first field goal of the second half with 10:27 to go to cut the Elizabethtown lead to 47-43, but a basket by Church and a three-pointer by Flanagan gave the Blue Jays a 52-45 lead with 9:43 to play.

Albright fought back with five unanswered points to cut the Blue Jay lead to 52-50 with 9:03 remaining, but Church converted a three-point play with 7:12 to go to extend the Blue Jay advantage to 55-50.

Also scoring in double figures for Albright were Andre Murphy with 11 points and Baszika with 10 points to go with five rebounds.

From the Albright College Website:

Men’s Basketball Ousted by Blue Jays in Commonwealth Semi-Finals

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

READING, Pa. – A 17 point effort by junior, Mike Church propelled the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (14-11/7-5 CC) past the Lions of Albright College (17-9/8-4 CC) in the semi-final round of the Commonwealth Conference Tournament playoffs at a packed and loud Bollman Center.

Elizabethtown erased a first half deficit rather quickly in the opening minutes of the second half by going on a 12-2 run to start.

Albright was dominant in the low post for most of the contest, mostly in part to yet another double-double effort by senior center, Phil Hall (Northampton, PA/Northampton). Hall finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds on 9 of 17 shooting from the field. Hall was 6 for 7 in the first half, but was unable to get such easy looks in the second 20 minutes, when the Blue Jays turned up the defensive intensity.

A seesaw first half with numerous lead changes and ties ended with the Lions leading by a slim 4 point margin (37-33). The Red and White tried many a time to pull away but the Blue Jays fought back behind a sharp-shooting Keith Fogel and a large road crowd following of fans.

Hall was perfect from the field for the first 17 minutes, totaling 12 points and including five rebounds in his first half stat line.

Andre Murphy (Philadelphia, PA/Carver) hit quite a few tough shots in the first 20 minutes as well, putting together an 8 point first half to keep the Lions pacing themselves offensively.

Murphy would finish as one of three scorers in double figures for the Lions, ending the night with 11 points.

Matt Baszika (New Zealand/South Plainfield, NJ) would prove to be the final Lion scoring in double figures, finishing with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

The Red and White owned a 19-9 first half rebounding advantage, due largely in part to the play of Justin Plummer (Upper Darby, PA/Friends Central) off the bench. The junior had six rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass to give the Lions numerous second chances and keep them shooting at a near 60% clip.

Unable to get his shot going all game, Zac Shaeffer (Lancaster, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg), hit his first jumper of the night with 2 minutes left to play, giving the Red and White their last lead of the evening.

Elizabethtown would counter that bucket with a jumper by Bryan Harrity, which was followed by the second three-pointer of the night by Fogel, who finished with 13 points, to seal the deal for the Blue Jays with just under a minute to play.

The Lions would try to get some offensive momentum in the final minutes, but missed jumpers and a costly turnover would be all the Red and White could muster against an aggressive defense.

Elizabethtown will head to Widener, who defeated Messiah by a final of 76-61, to play for the Commonwealth Championship on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Lions will now wait and see what is in store for them. There still remains a chance that Lions could earn a spot in this year’s ECAC Tournament. The selections for the tournament will be announced on Monday, March 2nd.

Elizabethtown College 68, Albright College 64

Box Score