Despite getting double-doubles from senior Andrew Mantz and junior Lee Eckert, the Elizabethtown College men’s basketball team didn’t have enough left in the tank in the second half against Albright College Saturday afternoon, when it lost its final game of the season by a score of 73-64.
With the win, the Lions, who were leading by nine at halftime, nabbed the Commonwealth Conference’s final postseason spot.
Mantz, playing in the final game of his collegiate career, scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. The senior also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds in the loss. Mantz finished his Etown career with 943 points and 621 rebounds.
Along with Mantz,
seniors Ryan Borzager and Joe Schwalm concluded their Blue Jay careers on Saturday. Borzager finished with four points on the day and Schwalm was able to grab a pair of rebounds in the contest.
Eckert finished the game with 13 points against the Lions to go along with his 10 rebounds and two assists. The junior will be relied on to become even more of an offensive threat as the Blue Jays look towards the 2014-15 season.
Another junior who will be looking to continue his offensive success is Phil Wenger. The captain ended with a game-high 14 points for the Blue Jays, along with three assists and three steals.
Etown led for much of the game’s first half on the backs of Wenger, Mantz and Eckert. But with the stakes high, Albright turned up the pressure to ensure a playoff berth. In the end, the Lions (13-12, 9-9 CC) were too much to handle for the Blue Jays.
Albright turned to its top offensive threats, first-year Josh Marquez and senior Kyle Jordan, to get the Lions going in the first half. Marquez and Jordan combined for 11 points in a 14-2 run to put the Lions ahead 34-23 with only a few minutes left in the first half.
Marquez
ended the game with a career-high 20 points. The first-year missed just one of the eight shots he took and knocked down six of seven free throws on the day. The tale of the tape was at the free-throw line. The Lions earned 28 trips to the foul line in comparison to Etown’s 15 attempts at the line.
Jordan, determined to keep his college career going, scored seven points, grabbed six rebounds and had five assists to help the Lions get past the Blue Jays.
Even though the Blue Jays out-rebounded Albright by 15 and had 20 offensive boards, Etown could not handle the Lions’ major offensive threats. Etown shot 42.6 percent, and the Blue Jays were able to turn those extra opportunities into 17-second chance points but could not keep up with Marquez and Albright.
Head coach Bob Schlosser and Etown completed their final season in the Commonwealth Conference with an 8-17 overall mark and a 5-13 record in the MAC. Next season, the Blue Jays will compete as a first-year member of the Landmark Conference. With a large number of contributors returning for next season, look for the Blue Jays to bounce back to their winning ways.
