Brandon Berry vs. Drew 1/31/18
Dan Gittis
85
Winner Drew DREW 15-5, 8-1 LMK
78
Elizabethtown ETOWN 4-15, 1-8 LMK
Winner
Drew DREW
15-5, 8-1 LMK
85
Final
78
Elizabethtown ETOWN
4-15, 1-8 LMK
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Drew DREW 38 47 85
Elizabethtown ETOWN 33 45 78

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Drew escapes Jays' upset bid

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- Elizabethtown had the Landmark Conference's top team on the ropes Wednesday evening, leading by double digits with less than 10 minutes to play. Visiting Drew prevailed, however, outscoring the Blue Jays 17-5 over the last five minutes to scoot out of Thompson Gymnasium with an 85-78 victory.

With Michael Pastore (12), Bryce Greene (11) and Connor Moffatt (10) combining for 33 second-half points, the Blue Jays were primed to hand the Rangers just their second league loss and potentially shake up the Landmark postseason race. Elizabethtown held an 11-point lead --its largest of the evening-- with 12:04 remaining after a Pastore three from the right wing. Second-year Rangers' guard Riley Collins had other ideas, scoring nine of his team's next 10 points to keep the Blue and Gray within sight.

Trailing 73-68 with 5:01 left, Drew (15-5, 8-1 Landmark) found another gear. The Rangers used a pair of Darius Reiter 3-pointers and four points from Yonathan Napoleon to score 12 unanswered points and go up seven with 2:24 to go. The Blue Jays (4-15, 1-8) would not get closer than four the rest of the way as Drew's defense tightened and held E-town to two field goals over the final six minutes.

Greene's game-high 22 points led five Blue Jays in double figures. The sophomore from Westampton, N.J., also pulled down eight rebounds. Moffatt had 20 points and nine boards, Pastore scored all 12 of his points in the second half, while Ethan DuBois and Brandon Berry totaled 10 apiece. E-town hit on 48.4% of its shots (31-of-64), its best shooting performance in 10 games, but suffered through a season-low 43.8% (7-of-16) effort at the foul line. Drew made more freebies than the Jays attempted, converting 19-of-27.

Elizabethtown edged the Rangers on the boards, 38-37, though Drew's Nate Aldrich came up with a game-high 12 rebounds along with his team-high 21 points. DuBois handed out a team-high five assists for the Jays and Jamil Pines-Elliott had a season-high three steals.

Aldrich had an excellent night for Drew, which leaves January having won 13-of-15 games over the last two months after a 2-3 November. The junior forward recorded his ninth double-double of the season --one off Moffatt's league-leading 10-- and was 7-of-8 from the floor and 7-of-9 at the charity stripe. Aldrich also blocked a game-high three shots.

The Rangers also got 19 points from Reiter, Collins finished with 16 before fouling out and Napoleon had 13 points, six rebounds and a game-high six assists. Dan Roibal chipped in nine points and nine rebounds.

Elizabethtown will try to topple another playoff hopeful Saturday when it travels to Moravian for a 4 p.m. tip. The Greyhounds, who defeated the Jays 69-68 back in December's conference opener, are one of four 6-3 teams along with Catholic, Juniata and Scranton vying for three postseason spots.
 
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