SCRANTON, Pa. — The Elizabethtown College men's basketball team couldn't overcome its shooting woes in a 65-43 Landmark Conference loss to Scranton Saturday afternoon at the Long Center. The Blue Jays shot 16-for-46 from the floor were outscored by 14 in the second half.
Lee Eckert led the way for E-town with a team-high 13 points and seven boards.
Eckert did the majority of his damage in the first half for Elizabethtown (8-11, 6-5 Landmark), scoring eight of his 13 points and grabbing five rebounds (four offensive). He scored eight straight points for the Blue Jays as they grabbed a 10-8 lead with 13:13 on the clock in the first half.
The Jays would go cold, however, and Scranton (15-4, 9-1 Landmark) would go an 11-0 run spanning nearly seven minutes to take a 19-10 lead.
Phil Wenger broke the scoreless streak with a layup off a pass from
Matt Lane. E-town had five turnovers and six missed shots during the scoreless drought.
The Royals stretched the lead to as many as 11 in the latter portion of the first half, but E-town didn't go away. After Brian Farrell used a Brendan Boken feed for the layup to extend Scranton's advantage back up to 11,
Matt Lapkowicz hit the final shot of the half, a three-pointer, to send Elizabethtown into halftime down just eight at 28-20.
Wenger found Eckert for the hoop and the harm with 16:50 to go in the second half. Eckert made his only free throw attempt of the game to complete the and-one and get the Blue Jays within five, 32-27.
Scranton proved to be too much as that was the closest E-town would get the rest of the way. The Royals hit 50 percent of their shots in the final 20 minutes (11-for-22) and went 13-for-16 at the foul line. The Jays shot just 8-for-22 from the floor.
Scranton also dominated the painted area, scoring 42 points in the paint compared to just 16 for Elizabethtown. The Jays' 18 turnovers didn't help the cause, as the Royals turned those into 20 points.
Evan Hathaway added eight points for EC. Ross Danzig scored a game-high 19 points for the Royals.
The men's basketball team will remain on the road, traveling to face conference leader Catholic on Wednesday, February 4 at 7 p.m.
