Blue Jays Head to Break with 72-61 Win over Mules

From the E-town College Website:

Box score

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College wrapped up the 2009 portion of its men's basketball schedule with a 72-61 non-conference win over Muhlenberg College at Thompson Gymnasium Sunday afternoon.

The Blue Jays (8-3 overall) earned their fourth straight victory by forcing the Mules (5-4 overall) into 34 turnovers, converting the miscues into 33 points. Keith Fogel led the Blue Jays with 16 points while Josh Houseal hit a career-best three three-pointers and finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Evan Tozer led the Mules with 13 points while Peter Barnes added 12 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots and Spencer Liddic chipped in with 12 points and nine boards as Muhlenberg finished with a 49-31 advantage in rebounding.

Elizabethtown never trailed in the contest, holding Muhlenberg scoreless for nearly four minutes as part of a 12-3 run that gave the Blue Jays a 22-11 lead with 8:23 left in the first half.

The Blue Jays went 7-for-11 from three-point range in the first half and led 40-27 at intermission, but hit just one of eight attempts from beyond the arc after the break as part of a 26.5 percent (9-for-34) overall shooting performance in the second half.

The Mules trailed 49-34 with 14:57 left, but trimmed the deficit to 51-45 following a layup by Liddic with 9:14 to play. However, Mark Vogel scored the game's next six points to extend the Blue Jay lead to 57-45 with 8:11 to go.

Elizabethtown received solid contributions from its bench, with 10 players combining for 26 points and eight rebounds. Vogel and Brady Haughney each scored six points off the bench for the Blue Jays, while Justin Greenstone and Brian Frankowski each came off the Mule bench to tally six points as well.

From the Muhlenberg College Website:

men’s basketball learns lessons

Two days after the end of the final exam period for the first semester, the Muhlenberg men’s basketball team went back to school and learned some important lessons in a 72-61 loss at Elizabethtown.

One was that the Mules will have to step up their game against high-quality competition. After winning four in a row against teams with a combined record of 5-26, Muhlenberg faces the other three 2009 Centennial Conference semifinalists in its first nine days back in 2010.

Another is that continuing to play hard pays off. The Mules, who trailed the Blue Jays 20-6 midway through the first half and by 13 (40-27) at halftime, got back in the game with exceptional defense. Down 49-34 five minutes into the second half, Muhlenberg went on an 11-2 run to cut the gap to six. Elizabethtown (8-3) scored the next six points, however, and maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

And last but not least, it’s hard to beat anybody when you commit turnovers. The Mules had a 49-31 rebounding advantage and held Elizabethtown to 34.3-percent shooting (26.5 percent in the second half) but turned the ball over 34 times against the pressure defense of the Blue Jays.

Senior Peter Barnes notched his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Spencer Liddic just missed a double-double, scoring all 12 of his points in the second half and adding nine rebounds.

Merry Christmas everyone!