ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- The Elizabethtown College men's basketball team shot lights out in the first half against King's (Pa.) on Saturday in non-conference action at Thompson Gymnasium. After building a 20-point lead by the half, the Blue Jays had to hold on in the final moments to escape with a two-point, 85-83, win over the Monarchs. Rance Russo led all scorers in the game with 21 points. Jalin Robinson added 20 points for Etown.

King's (Pa.) (3-2) held a slim lead early in the game, but the Blue Jays climbed in front and worked their way ahead. Up by 7, Tyreke Herbert got Alon Gorham out on the break for the transition basket to make it a 23-14 advantage for Elizabethtown (3-2). A missed three at the other end led to Russo's layup off a feed from Jared Archer. The Monarchs, down 11, called a full timeout to stymy the momentum for Etown. A turnover out of the timeout for King's led to a three from Russo at the other end as the Jays had doubled their lead to 14, 28-14.

Elizabethtown dialed up the three-point shot often in the first half, and hit on nearly 56 percent, going 10-for-18 from deep. Robinson was on fire from beyond the arc, hitting four of his five attempts. Russo and Aidan Trynosky each hit a pair while Gorham and Niko Georgelis also hit treys. Etown shot 19-for-32 as a team in the half, just under 60 percent.

The Monarchs shot 33 percent from the field, 9-for-27 in the opening 20 minutes and trailed at the half, 52-32.

The second half was nearly a mirror of the first half, with the only exception was King's found their shooting touch while the Blue Jays struggled from the floor.

A little over midway through the second half, the Monarchs had cut the once 20-point lead at the half down to just four, off Noah Tanner's transition three-pointer, with 9:35 to go. The Blue Jays had led by as many as 23 in the second half.

Russo dropped in another of his threes to help Etown get back up by seven. Trynosky followed that up with a three on the next possession to get it back to 10 at 75-65.

King's kept close and did it at the free throw line in the second half. The Monarchs hit 19-of-20 attempts with the clock stopped as they crept back into it. Tanner hit another three that tied it at 81-81 with 1:55 remaining. Russo broke that tie with his fourth and final three of the game with 1:26 to go.

Robinson split a pair with 10 seconds remaining, and with barely any time remaining, King's threw the ball out of bounds to give Elizabethtown possession with 0.5 seconds showing. The Jays inbounded and ran it out to get out with the two-point victory.

Robinson finished with a game-high five treys while Nick Rappa hauled down 16 boards for the Blue Jays. Trynosky contributed 16 points, three assists, and two steals.

Elizabethtown will host Lebanon Valley on Tuesday, November 23, at  6 p.m.