Phil Wenger vs. Scranton 12/10/11
Thom Swarr
50
McDaniel MCD 3-6
52
Winner Elizabethtown ETWN-M 3-7
McDaniel MCD
3-6
50
Final
52
Elizabethtown ETWN-M
3-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
McDaniel MCD 23 27 50
Elizabethtown ETWN-M 24 28 52

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Elizabethtown defeats McDaniel in dramatic fashion, 52-50

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- Elizabethtown College's men's basketball team keeps finding ways to end its victories in dramatic fashion. In what seems like déjà vu from just two games ago, the Blue Jays defeated their opponent with less than ten seconds remaining on the clock. This time, Phil Wenger banked in a layup with 5.7 seconds left in Sunday afternoon's contest to put away McDaniel, 52-50, at Thompson Gymnasium.

The first stanza was a low scoring affair. The minimal points put on the board in the first came as the result of strong defensive play from both teams. In particular, McDaniel's (3-6) Phillip Perry shut down the E-town (3-7) attack, getting in the Blue Jays' passing lanes with regularity. Perry came up with four steals and a blocked shot in the contest.  Although the Jays scored only 11 points in the opening ten minutes, they outshot the Green Terror in the first half with a 43% (10-of-23) effort from the field.

The Jays carried a 24-23 lead into the second half, but would see their lead turn into a deficit rather quickly. A minute into the second half, McDaniel's Evan Pupelis scored on a layup that changed the complexion of the game. The visiting squad used similar defensive play from the first to establish separation from E-town. The Green Terror played to their strengths, utilizing their height and breakout speed to place a firm stranglehold on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. McDaniel kept their foot on the accelerator, building a 37-28 lead at the 12 minute mark.

The Blue Jays would respond once again after finding their stride. Held to just four points in the first nine minutes of the final half, E-town kicked its game into full gear with only ten minutes left E-town recaptured the lead with just under four minutes remaining when Andrew Mantz spun in the lane and finished off a left handed mini-hook for a 44-43 lead.

Both teams traded sprints up and down the court until Phil Wenger put Elizabethtown up 50-48 with 42 seconds left on the clock. McDaniel would tie the game one more time, but Wenger had the final answer. He found space on the right side of the lane, drove between a pair of Green Terror defenders and dropped in the final points of the evening. The win in the last 10 seconds was E-town's second in its last two home games, after Will Schlosser's three-point game-winning shot against Scranton just over a week ago.

Wenger did more than drain the game-winning shot, he led the Jays on the scoresheet with 14 points, while totaling two assists, four steals, and a blocked shot. Mantz sank 13 points, while Joe Schwalm put up eight and was almost perfect at the free throw line going 4-for-5.

McDaniel, which was held to 50 points or less for the fourth time this season, got 10 points from Millersville transfer Cullen Murray-Kemp. Pupelis scored nine for the visitors, whose starters were outscored 43-39. Elizabethtown improved to 9-2 all-time against McDaniel, but was playing against the Westminster, Md.-based school for the first time since 1992-93, when McDaniel was still known as Western Maryland College.

The Jays finish the 2011 calendar year with an 11-14 record, after going 8-7 to end the 2010-11 season. The first contest of the New Year will take place at Thompson Gymnasium against Gwynedd-Mercy on January 4.
 
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