Church Reaches 1,000 Points, But Blue Jays Fall 80-67 at Widener

From the E-town College Website:

Box score

CHESTER, Pa. --- Widener University placed five players in double figures and overcame a milestone performance by Elizabethtown College's Mike Church to earn an 80-67 victory in a key Commonwealth Conference men's basketball matchup Saturday at the Schwartz Center.

Church led all players with a season-high 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and became the 30th player in Elizabethtown program history to score 1,000 points on a foul shot with 14:08 left in the first half.

However, the Pride (12-11 overall, 5-7 Commonwealth) led 47-31 at halftime and withstood a second-half run by the Blue Jays (14-7 overall, 6-5 Commonwealth) to remain in the hunt for a Commonwealth Conference playoff berth.

With one week remaining in the regular season, Elizabethtown is in sole possession of the fourth and final playoff spot at 6-5, with Alvernia University trailing by a half-game at 6-6. Lebanon Valley College is a game back at 5-6, followed by Widener at 5-7. The Blue Jays play at Lebanon Valley Tuesday night before finishing the season at home with second-place Lycoming College (8-3) Thursday and Arcadia University (0-12) Saturday.

Onyi Ezeala led Widener with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Jack Brennan added 15 points and six boards and Chris McDevitt chipped in with 12 points off the Pride bench. Bobby Edmunds tallied 11 points and a game-high eight assists for Widener, with Perry Wright joining McDevitt in double figures off the bench with 10 points in 19 minutes.

For the Blue Jays, Bryan Harrity torched his former teammates for a career-high 17 points in 19 minutes off the bench, while Keith Fogel netted 12 points and handed out seven assists. However, the Blue Jays finished the game at 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the field while Widener shot 48.3 percent (29-for-60) overall and 7-for-14 from three-point range.

Church scored the Blue Jays' first 13 points as Elizabethtown trailed 16-13 with 12:18 left in the first half, but Widener used a 13-2 run to build a 29-17 lead midway through the half. The Blue Jays cut the margin to 31-24 on a jumper by Fogel with 6:21 left, but Widener answered with nine straight points to take a 40-24 lead just three minutes later.

The Pride led 47-31 at halftime after shooting 52.9 percent (18-for-34) from the field in the opening half. McDevitt went 3-for-3 from three-point range and led all players with 12 points in the first half, while Church tallied 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting for the Blue Jays and pulled 11 rebounds to secure his eighth double-double of the season.

In the second half, the Blue Jays opened with a 12-1 run to pull within 48-43 on a three-point play by Church with 16:27 left. Elizabethtown moved as close as four points twice, the latter with 10:02 left at 59-55 after two free throws by Joe Flanagan, but a quick 9-2 spurt by the Pride restored its double-figure advantage at 68-57 with 7:26 remaining.

From the Widener University Website:

Men's Basketball Pulls Away For 80-67 Win Over Elizabethtown

(box score)

Sophomore Onyi Ezeala (Piscataway, NJ) recorded his first double-double and keyed the decisive run for Widener in an 80-67 Commonwealth Conference victory over Elizabethtown at Schwartz Center.

Ezeala scored seven points during a 12-4 burst that gave Widener a 71-59 lead with 5:13 left. He ended the spurt on a fastbreak layup.

That was just a sampling of his phenomenal day in which he scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. This helped the Pride shoot 48 percent (29-of-60) from the field and 7-of-14 from 3-point range.

Sophomore Jack Brennan (Stratford, NJ) scored 15 points, junior Chris McDevitt (Doylestown, PA) netted 12, senior Bobby Edmunds (Linwood, NJ) had 11 and eight assists with sophomore Perry Wright (Severn, MD) adding 10 points for Widener (12-11, 5-7 CC).

Elizabethtown (14-7, 6-5) wasted a great effort by Mike Church, who ended with 25 points and 14 rebounds. He reached the 1,000-point plateau for his career in the first half, a stanza in which he had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Bryan Harrity scored 17 points off the bench and Keith Fogel added 12 for the Blue Jays.

Widener remains in contention to make the conference tournament, sitting 1 1/2 games behind Elizabethtown for the fourth and final spot. The teams split their two meetings.

Widener on Tuesday travels to Glenside, PA to face Arcadia, beginning at 8:00 pm.

From the Lancaster Newspapers Website:

Blue Jays fall despite big game from Church
Sunday News
Feb 14, 2010 00:13 EST
By STAFF

Widener placed five players in double figures and overcame a milestone performance by Elizabethtown's Mike Church to earn an 80-67 victory in a key Commonwealth Conference matchup.

Church, a Solanco grad, led all scorers with a season-high 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and became the 30th player in school history to score 1,000 career points — on a foul shot with 14:08 left in the first half.

But the Pride (12-11, 5-7 Commonwealth) withstood a second-half run by the Blue Jays (14-7, 6-5) to remain in the hunt for a conference playoff berth.

With one week remaining in the regular season, Elizabethtown is in sole possession of the fourth and final playoff spot at 6-5, with Alvernia trailing by a half-game at 6-6. Lebanon Valley is a game back at 5-6, followed by Widener at 5-7. The Blue Jays play at Lebanon Valley Tuesday night before finishing the season at home with second-place Lycoming (8-3) Thursday and Arcadia (0-12) Saturday.

For the Blue Jays, Bryan Harrity torched his former teammates for a career-high 17 points in 19 minutes off the bench, while Keith Fogel netted 12 points and handed out seven assists. But Elizabethtown finished the game shooting 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the field, while Widener shot 48.3 percent (29-for-60), and drained 7 of 14 from beyond the arc.