ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Juniata closed to within a point with 6:48 remaining in regulation, but the Blue Jays never surrendered their lead in grinding out a 62-52 Landmark Conference victory Wednesday night at Thompson Gymnasium. The win was Elizabethtown's first in the conference and the 350th of head coach Bob Schlosser's career.

Backed by five 3-pointers and a suffocating defense, the homestanding Jays (2-5, 1-1 Landmark) grabbed a halftime lead for just the second time this season.

All three of Joe Bodnar's first-half buckets came from beyond the arc, while Tyler Simpkiss connected on 2-of-4 from downtown to guide the Blue Jays. Juniata (4-2, 1-1 Landmark), which came into the game as the top shooting team in the conference at just under 50 percent, were held well under that number in the opening 20 minutes. Matt Lapkowicz forced two turnovers and five other guys chipped in with a steal in the first half. E-town also limited the Eagles to 9-of-26 shooting, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range in building a 32-22 halftime lead.

Elizabethtown turned the pressure up even more after the break with nine more steals, four coming from Phil Wenger. Wenger's five steals led the team, while Lapkowciz had a career-high four.

Jake Sweger's offensive board and put back with 12:51 to play matched E-town's largest lead of the night at 13, 42-29, but Juniata did not fold. Marcus Lee started a 12-0 run for the visitors on their very next possession that pulled the Eagles to within a point, 42-41, with 6:48 to go.

In danger of trailing for the first time since the 17:06 mark of the first half, Elizabethtown answered with a Wenger layup and Lapkowicz took the ball away from Kyle Koehler before being fouled and converting both free throw chances to quickly push its lead back to five.

The Blue Jays scored 14 points off of 10 second-half turnovers by Juniata and outscored the Eagles 20-16 in the paint. For the game, both teams scored 32 points down in the post, while E-town held a 10-2 advantage in fastbreak points. Though the blue and gray were unable to keep up their hot-shooting from 3-point land in the second half, they were an efficient 10-of-20 from the floor, with all 10 baskets coming in the paint. Elizabethtown was also stellar at the foul line, going 10-of-12 after half and 13-of-18 in the game.

Simpkiss paced all scorers with 14 points and finished two rebounds shy of a double-double. Wenger added 12 points and five steals, while Bodnar and Lee Eckert scored nine points apiece.

Jake Sweger chipped in eight points on 4-of-6 shooting in 21 minutes.

For Juniata, Lee and Justin Fleming dropped 11 points to stand as co-leaders. Nate Ogle scored nine points and Koehler had seven points and seven rebounds.

Schlosser, the winningest coach in program history, earned his 350th win in his 621st game on the Blue Jays' sideline (350-271). Now in his 25th season leading Elizabethtown, Schlosser has led the school to 15 conference tournament appearances, four NCAA tournaments and three conference championships. The Blue Jays were Division III national runners-up in 2001-02.

Elizabethtown will get some time to recover before hosting Merchant Marine Saturday, Dec. 13, at 4 p.m.