Men's Basketball 11/14/2014 9:30:00 PM

Blue Jays launch new season Saturday night at Dutch Burch Tip-Off

2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Roster | Coaching Staff

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The start of fall practice in October always brings with it a clean slate, a fresh start, a new outlook with new goals and the chance to make your mark. For Elizabethtown College men's basketball, that's an opportunity they've coveted since the final horn sounded last February. The Blue Jays will get the chance to act on that Saturday night as they begin the 2014-15 season at the Lycoming Dutch Burch Tip-Off.

There is little time to ease into the new year, however, as the Blue Jays go up against Plattsburgh State, a Sweet 16 participant, on opening night at 8 p.m. The winner will face either Lycoming or Penn State Schuylkill at 1 or 3 p.m. Sunday.

PREVIEWING THE 2014-15 BLUE JAYS

EXPERIENCE IN SPADES
Elizabethtown has six seniors and four juniors on its 13-man roster. Will Schlosser, the team leader in 3-pointers (38) a year ago, would have made it seven seniors, but a preseason knee injury prematurely ended his season.

Four of the team's top five scorers return, including Lee Eckert (14.3 points per game), Tyler Simpkiss (9.0) and Phil Wenger (9.0). Eckert and Wenger started all 25 games as juniors, while Simpkiss made 10 starts. Joe Bodnar (7.9 ppg, 30 3-pointers) started eight times in 15 games before missing a large portion of the 2013-14 season with ailments of his own.

KING OF STEALS
Wenger led the Commonwealth Conference in steals per game (2.68) and total steals (67) last year, ranking ninth and 19th in NCAA Division III in those respective categories. If the senior guard from Lancaster can duplicate those totals he will leave the program as its all-time leader. Wenger needs 51 steals to break Damian Burnside's school record of 235, set between 1981-85.

Wenger's 185 career steals are currently sixth most in E-town history. Between Burnside and himself sit Brian Loftus (200), Paul Cuttic (197), Tom Kuffa (193) and Keith Fogel (186).

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The Blue Jays will join former Middle Atlantic Conference rivals Juniata, Moravian, Scranton and Susquehanna in the Landmark Conference in 2014-15. E-town will also compete against Catholic, Drew, Goucher and Merchant Marine.

Elizabethtown was picked seventh of the nine schools in the coaches' preseason poll with 25 points, right behind Juniata (26). Scranton, ranked No. 21 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 to start the season, was the unanimous preseason favorite with eight first-place votes and 80 points. Catholic, Susquehanna and Merchant Marine completed the top four.

INTERIOR FORTITUDE
Eckert and the now graduated Andrew Mantz (10.8 ppg, 7.9 rpg) were Elizabethtown's top statistical players last season. Eckert's 57.4 shooting percentage from the floor ranked in the top 50 nationally and was second best in the conference.

Mantz blocked 44 shots and his 1.76 denials per game ranked 72nd in DIII. He was top five in the league in both blocks per game and rebounds per game.

Together the duo combined for 10 double-doubles (five each).

While Eckert leads the Blue Jays into the new year, Mantz's production will need to be replaced. Juniors Tommy James and Matt Ziegler, sophomores Jake Sweger and Josh Eden, and senior Tyler Warner are all awaiting their chance to try and be those complementary pieces in the post.

SCORING SIMPKISS
No Elizabethtown player scored more points in a game in 2013-14 than Tyler Simpkiss. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound swingman went for a career-high 30 points in the Jays' 92-89 conference home-opening win over Widener Dec. 4. It was the first 30-point game by a Blue Jay since Ben Cable dropped 34 on Lycoming Feb. 14, 2012.

Simpkiss' career night was part of a four-game stretch that saw him score 83 points for an average of 20.8 points per game and pulled his season average up to 16 per contest.

If the Dover, Delaware, native can give the Blue Jays more scoring consistency, it could make a huge difference in the team's record at season's end. Following the four-game tear last winter, Simpkiss went six straight games without recording double figures, but then reached double figures in 3-of-4 games after that.

CLOSE WON'T CUT IT
For the last two seasons, the words used to describe the blue and gray have not varied: scrappy, tough to play against, relentless. Of the team's 17 losses, 10 were by 10 points or less. A year prior, 12 of their 17 losses came that way.

But this is a new year, and simply being in games won't satisfy a team –and senior class– that has been working hard to improve its fortunes. Not since 1973-74 has an Elizabethtown men's basketball graduating class gone without a winning record throughout its career.

NEWCOMERS
There aren't many fresh names on this year's roster. Only three of the 13 players have not seen action in a varsity game for the Blue Jays and all three are sophomores.

Eden is a 6-foot-6 forward from Slatington, Pennsylvania (Northern Lehigh). He spent his freshman season developing under the E-town coaching staff on the school's junior varsity team. So, too, did guard Matt Lapkowicz (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin).

Lapkowicz and Eden both showed well in the team's Blue/White intersquad scrimmage last weekend.

Also joining the team is Kyle McGee, a 6-foot-1 guard from Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania (Mahanoy Area). McGee spent his freshman season at Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey, where he played in 12 games and scored eight points.

SCHLOSSER NEARING MILESTONE
Head coach Bob Schlosser returns for his 25th season guiding the Blue Jays. He's collected a program record 348 victories (348-266) with three conference championships during a highly successful career.

Schlosser, one of the true mentors of the game, will become the first Elizabethtown coach to 350 victories with two more wins. He ranks 49th amongst active Division III coaches in wins heading into the 2014-15 season.

Schlosser is also the second-longest tenured coach in program history. Schlosser would match Donald Smith's 26 seasons at the College by coaching through 2015-16.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#50 Andrew Mantz: C/F; 6' 7"; Senior

#21 Joe Bodnar: G; 6' 2"; Senior

#43 Lee Eckert: C/F; 6' 5"; Senior

#34 Tommy James: F; 6' 4"; Junior

#32 Tyler Simpkiss: G/F; 6' 3"; Senior

#23 Jake Sweger: F; 6' 4"; Sophomore

#30 Tyler Warner: F; 6' 4"; Senior

#11 Phil Wenger: G; 6' 2"; Senior

#33 Matt Ziegler: F; 6' 6"; Junior

#10 Kyle McGee: G; 6' 1"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#50 Andrew Mantz
: 6' 7"; Senior
: C/F

#21 Joe Bodnar
: 6' 2"; Senior
: G

#43 Lee Eckert
: 6' 5"; Senior
: C/F

#34 Tommy James
: 6' 4"; Junior
: F

#32 Tyler Simpkiss
: 6' 3"; Senior
: G/F

#23 Jake Sweger
: 6' 4"; Sophomore
: F

#30 Tyler Warner
: 6' 4"; Senior
: F

#11 Phil Wenger
: 6' 2"; Senior
: G

#33 Matt Ziegler
: 6' 6"; Junior
: F

#10 Kyle McGee
: 6' 1"; Sophomore
: G