Blue Jays Overcome 16-Point Deficit in OT Win Over Messiah

From the E-town College Website:

Box score

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to force overtime, and went on to defeat Messiah College 69-64 in Commonwealth Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Thompson Gymnasium.

Keith Fogel sparked the comeback for the Blue Jays by scoring all of his team-high 17 points in the second half, including the tiebreaking three-pointer with 3:44 left in overtime, for the Blue Jays (5-3 overall, 1-1 Commonwealth).

Joe Flanagan added 15 points for the Blue Jays, while Bryan Harrity chipped in with a career-high 11 points in 13 minutes off the bench and Mike Church finished with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds for Elizabethtown, which shot just 36.4 percent (20-for-55) as a team in the game but connected on 23-of-29 free-throw attempts overall and committed just one turnover after halftime.

Colton Reitz led the Falcons (4-3 overall, 0-2 Commonwealth) with game highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds, but after shooting 52.4 percent (11-for-21) from the field in the opening half Messiah hit just 10-for-33 (30.3 percent) after intermission.

Messiah took the lead in the game's opening minute and carried a 37-25 advantage into halftime behind 12 points from Reitz. The Falcon lead grew to 41-25 in the opening minute of the second half, but Elizabethtown whittled the deficit away and finally evened the score at 55-55 on a three-pointer by Mark Vogel with 1:13 remaining. Reitz sank two foul shots with 55 seconds remaining to push the Falcons back ahead 57-55, but Flanagan hit a pair at the other end with 45 seconds left to retie the score at 57-57.

Fogel gave Elizabethtown its first lead of the game at 59-57 with a steal and layup with 27 seconds to play, but Chris Yoder's basket with 16 seconds to go knotted the score at 59-59. Elizabethtown had a final chance to win the game in regulation but misfired with six seconds to go, and Messiah was unable to get off a final shot as the teams went to overtime.

In the extra period, the Blue Jays scored the first four points to go up 63-59 on a three-pointer by Fogel with 3:44 to go and a free throw by Flanagan with 2:05 remaining. Jamie Yoder hit a jumper with 1:43 left to pull the Falcons within 63-61, but a free throw by Flanagan and two by Chris Jones sandwiched around a missed three-pointer by Messiah left Elizabethtown with a 66-61 lead with 36 seconds left.

Tyler Ritzman brought the Falcons within two at 66-64 with a three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining, but Fogel hit two free throws with 18 seconds left and Travis Mettler came up with a steal and made one foul shot with eight seconds to play to set the final score.

Jamie Yoder and Chris Yoder each scored 11 points for the Falcons, who went 10-for-24 from three-point range on the afternoon including a 6-for-10 performance in the first half. Kyle Snyder joined Reitz in double figures on the boards with 10, as Messiah finished with a slim 37-36 edge in rebounding.