The Etownian >> Sports
Blue Jays lose to Lycoming in Commonwealth semis
Thursday February 25 2010
Sophomore Brian Allport (34) fights off two Arcadia players while fellow sophomore Kyle McConnell (24) takes a foul shot. The Blue Jays defeated the Knights 81-69 to cement a spot in the Commonwealth Conference semifinals.
In his last appearance as a Blue Jay, senior captain Mike Church led the team with an astounding 22 points. Junior Keith Fogel added 16 points, while sophomore Kyle McConnell contributed 14 points.
But it was Lycoming junior Will Kelly who dominated the game, scoring 30 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Warriors to victory. Senior Eric Anthony chipped in 19 points, including two 3-pointers.
Despite being down by 15 points in the first half, the Blue Jays fought back to gain a one-point lead for mere seconds before two foul shots by Anthony helped Lycoming regain the lead for good.
On Saturday, the Warriors will travel to Albright, where they will face the Lions in the Commonwealth Conference finals. The second-seeded Lions defeated the third-ranked Falcons of Messiah 73-67 Wednesday night in a Commonwealth Conference semifinal game.
The winner of Saturday’s game will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Last Saturday, the Blue Jays were on the bubble, but an 81-69 victory over Arcadia University (6-18) propelled Etown into the Commonwealth Conference semifinal game, despite missing Church due to injury. The win gave the Blue Jays a 16-8 record for the regular season and 8-6 in the Commonwealth Conference.
Fogel led the Blue Jays with 25 points, matching his career high, and junior Bryan Harrity, who stepped in for Church, topped his career high from Thursday night with 23 points. Junior Joe Flanagan also reached double digits with 12 points and five rebounds.
Arcadia sophomore Khalief Trawick, senior Glen Gagnon, and first-years José Ortiz and Renard Smith all scored in double digits, as the Knights shot a combined 31-for-61 from the field but went just 1-for-7 from beyond the arch.
The Blue Jays went into halftime with a 36-25 lead, although they only shot 41.2 percent from the field. Etown maintained a lead because they converted 11 Arcadia turnovers into 14 points. Etown led by as many as 17 points in the second half, but Arcadia cut the deficit to nine with 2:51 remaining. Precision free-throw shooting in the final minute secured a win and a conference playoff berth for the Blue Jays.
Senior captain Josh Houseal knew that the team had what it took to make the playoffs.
“As a team we feel that we are in a good enough spot to go into the playoffs with a bang and win the conference championship. We aren’t proud of the spot we are in now, but we have to [make] do with what we have. We are on a mission [to] take home the conference championship and go on from there”, Houseal said. “We know we are the best team in the conference, although [the] record doesn’t show [it]. We just have to go out and play our game one game at a time.”
The men’s squad had to play these last two games with a win-or-go-home mentality, but it is this mentality that made the Blue Jays thrive.
“We need to do what we’ve worked for all year,” Church said. “That’s making sure each person does what’s necessary of them, and we will be fine because when the pressure comes, we perform even better.”
On Thursday night, the Blue Jays earned a key 92-85 victory over a 19-5 (9-4 Commonwealth) Lycoming College squad in a Commonwealth Conference matchup.
Church put up another double-double, his ninth of the season, with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Fogel added 19 points of his own along with eight assists and five steals, and Harrity’s stellar 21-point off-the-bench performance set a new career high. Harrity also grabbed five rebounds, all in just 19 minutes.
Lycoming’s Kelly led with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while first-year teammate Ishaan Davis scored 18 points off the bench, including three 3-pointers in the last 33 seconds of the game.
The Blue Jays started off on fire as they led 13-2 just four-and-a-half minutes into the game, and they never looked back.
Lycoming would not get within eight points of Etown until Davis hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to set Lycoming’s deficit at seven.
Lycoming pulled within single digits with 1:48 to go, but Etown held onto the lead with key free-throws from Fogel and first-year Travis Mettler. The Blue Jays made their final five foul shots in the last 38 seconds of the game.
“We started [the Feb. 18 game against Lycoming] with energy and intensity, which got us off to a good start,” head coach Bob Schlosser said. “We handled their pressure well and had some key contributions from players off the bench such as Harrity and [senior captain] Chris Jones. Church and Houseal showed exceptional leadership.”
The Etownian >> Sports