Blue Jays Win Fifth Straight, 74-68 at Gwynedd-Mercy

From the E-town College Website:

Box score

GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. --- Mike Church scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds to help Elizabethtown College to a 74-68 victory over Gwynedd-Mercy College in non-conference men's basketball action Thursday evening.

Four players scored in double figures for the Blue Jays (9-3 overall), who won their fifth straight game by shooting 57.9 percent (11-for-19) from the field and sinking 16-of-22 foul shots in the second half to overcome a 37-33 halftime deficit.

Matt Johnson paced the Griffins (3-6 overall) with a game-high 20 points while Mike Payne added 12 points off the bench, but Gwynedd-Mercy shot just 34.8 percent (24-for-69) from the field for the game.

Joe Flanagan led Elizabethtown with 17 points, connecting on four three-pointers in six attempts, while Bryan Harrity went 5-for-5 from the field and scored 11 points in 12 minutes off the bench and Keith Fogel added 10 points and five assists for the Blue Jays.

Elizabethtown jumped to an early 11-2 lead behind six points from Church, but Gwynedd-Mercy answered with a 20-4 run to go on top 22-15 on a dunk by Jon Hogga with 10:49 left in the first half.

Elizabethtown came back to tie the game twice late in the half, but the Griffins went to intermission with a 37-33 lead as Johnson led with 12 points and six rebounds. Church paced the Blue Jays with game highs of 14 points and seven rebounds in the first half.

The Blue Jays took their first lead since the early stages of the first half when Flanagan hit two foul shots with 12:01 to play to push Elizabethtown ahead 51-50. After the teams swapped the lead several times over the next four minutes, the Blue Jays went ahead for good on a basket by Josh Houseal with 7:39 remaining.

After trailing by as many as five points, the Griffins pulled within 70-68 on a three-pointer by Johnson with 36 seconds left, but Chris Jones hit two free throws with 23 seconds left and Fogel added a pair with 12 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

Church's double-double was his third of the season and the 12th of his career, while Flanagan has reached double figures in scoring 11 times in 12 games this season. Fogel, Church and Flanagan have combined for 30 double-figure scoring performances this season, including eight games in which all three scored 10 or more points.

From the Gynedd-Mercy College Website:

Elizabethtown 74, Gwynedd-Mercy 68
Johnson hits milestone, but Griffins lose 4th in a row

Box Score

GWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. – Senior Matt Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa./Strawberry Mansion) scored a game-high 20 points including his 1,000th career point, but it wasn’t enough as Elizabethtown edged Gwynedd-Mercy, 74-68, Thursday night at the Griffin Complex.

Senior Mike Payne (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) added 12 points but the Griffins (3-6) dropped their fourth in a row.

Joe Flanagan netted 17 points and teammate Mike Church totaled 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Blue Jays (9-3), who won their fifth-straight.

Gwynedd fell behind by as much as nine early in the contest, but a 20-4 run helped GM to its biggest lead, 25-17 with nine minutes in the stanza. E-Town would cut the lead to a 37-33 Griffin edge at the break.

Flanagan’s two free throws with 12:01 left in the game gave the Blue Jays its first lead since the first half, 51-50. The teams traded leads over the next two minutes before six-straight E-Town points, capped off by Flanagan gave the Blue Jays a 60-55 lead with 6:30 remaining.

Johnson’s trey pulled the Griffins within 70-68 with just 32 ticks, but four-straight free throws helped seal the outcome.

The game was rescheduled from December 19th.

Gwynedd-Mercy will play at Cabrini at 8 p.m. on Monday, January 11th in a CSAC matchup. It is the first meeting since last season’s conference championship game.