PHILADELPHIA, Pa.-- For the second time in three years the Elizabethtown College men's basketball team returned to the historic Palestra on the campus of The University of Penn. The Blue Jays faced Wilkes in a Landmark Conference game where they fell, 82-74. 

Rance Russo led the team with 16 points and four assists while Austin Finarelli totaled 15 points. MJ Branker added nine points from the bench while grabbing five rebounds. 

In the first half, Elizabethtown shot .419 from floor before improving to .441 in the second half. Wilkes jumped out to a commanding 14-4 lead to start the game. Following the Colonels run Etown went 11-0 to take a one-point lead. Midway through the half, Wilkes regained their lead to six-points just under ten minutes. Seconds later, Zuri Harris sunk a three as Etown trailed 23-20. The Colonels again began to pull away leading by as many as seven-points before the end of the half. Russo dropped in the Jays final points of the half as Elizabethtown trailed 34-31 at halftime. 

To begin the second half it started close as Russo and Reese Ziegler each made a three-pointer to bring the Blue Jays within two of Wilkes. Through the next several minutes the teams traded points up until the middle of the second half. The Colonels held their first ten-point lead of the half after sinking a three at the nine minute mark. Wilkes continued to heat up leading 76-54 with four minutes remaining in the game. The Blue Jays would start to chip away at the Colonels lead with the help from Branker, Cam Michaels, Blake Haddon, and Brian Kennedy but it wasn't enough as Elizabethtown fell, 82-74. 

The Blue Jays will travel to Goucher on Wednesday, January 15 at 7 PM.