ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- A slow start out of the gate coupled with the hot shooting on the other side with Goucher, the Elizabethtown College men's basketball team found themselves down early on in Wednesday night's Landmark Conference matchup at Thompson Gymnasium. The Blue Jays shook off a ten-point halftime deficit with a blistering start to the second half and beat the Gophers by 13, 71-58, for their second consecutive league victory. Connor Moffatt recorded his third double-double in the last four games with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead E-town.

Dwayne Morton, one of the Landmark's leading scorers, took a pass from Pat Goralski on the first possession of the game and laid it in for two as Goucher (3-11, 0-3 Landmark) grabbed a 2-0 lead right away. Matt Thomas answered at the other end for Elizabethtown (7-6, 2-1 Landmark) to tie up the score. From there, it was a 9-0 run by the Gophers over the next minute and a half to force E-town into a quick 30 second timeout.

Morton and fellow start Cameron Isaacs combined for 9-of-14 shooting and 22 points to keep Goucher ahead in the first half. Michael Pastore and Ethan DuBois each had layups on back-to-back possessions, each of which had the Blue Jays within five. It was the closest EC would get as the Gophers continued to shoot well and got the lead up to as many as 14 with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half.

Despite shooting just 28 percent over the first 20 minutes, the foul shooting helped keep Elizabethtown within striking distance. The Blue Jays were 11-of-14 from the charity stripe, including a 6-for-7 effort from the Landmark's free throw percentage leader, Brandon Berry. He finished 8-for-10 in the game.

Out of the locker room, it was a much different offensive team for E-town. Right off the bat, Greene got a pass inside to Moffatt, who got the defender on his hip and rolled toward the basket for two as the Jays started the second half with the ball. Greene drilled a three the next time down, Thomas created the steal on the following possession that ended with Greene passing ahead to Ethan DuBois on the fast break for the hoop and all of a sudden a ten-point deficit was down to three, 36-33, just over a minute into the second half.

Elizabethtown's defensive pressure continued to rattle Goucher as Thomas generated a second straight steal and Greene took it in for another fast break bucket. The Gophers called a timeout to slow up the momentum, and, coming out of it, Goralski got inside for the basket for the first points of the half for Goucher. Moffatt found Thomas down low on the ensuing possession for the Jays.

Thomas' layup was the start of a 9-0 run for E-town. Pastore made an inch perfect bounce pass to Thomas for a second straight basket that gave the Blue Jays the lead at 39-38. Off Jamil Pines-Elliott's steal, Moffatt hauled in an offensive rebound, went back up, took contact, and sank the shot plus the free throw for the three-point play. Zach Nannen caught the ball out top and drove straight to the hoop for a pair and Jamil Pines-Elliott got his hands on an errant pass and went coast-to-coast for the layup. Elizabethtown led 46-38 with 11:48 to go as Goucher called a full timeout.

The Gophers got within five on multiple occasions midway through the second half, but Morton and Isaacs were held to three points each as the Jays' lead grew. Pastore put it into double figures with a trey with 5:01 remaining.

Up by as many as 22, the Blue Jays coasted the rest of the way to a 13-point win to move above .500 overall and in Landmark play. Moffatt, the reigning Landmark Athlete of the Week, led all scorers with 17. Greene was also in double figures with 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Morton and Isaacs each finished with 14 points, 11 coming in the first half for both players.

Elizabethtown is on the road at Susquehanna on Saturday, January 12, at 4 p.m.