Elizabethtown College Men's Basketball
Saturday, February 17, 2001

ETOWN OUTPACES JUNIATA, 92-84, TO END REGULAR SEASON 19-5

HUNTINGDON, Pa. --- Elizabethtown closed out its regular season with a 19-5 overall and 10-4 Commonwealth Conference record with a 92-84 come-from-behind road win over Juniata Saturday. Juniata falls to 11-13 overall and 4-10 in the conference with the loss.

Juniata took a 38-34 lead into halftime, and held the lead throughout the second half. The host Eagles went up by nine on a three-pointer by Shane Crandall with 9:27 to go in the game. At that point, the Blue Jays began to chip away at Juniata's lead, and Etown took the lead for good with 2:13 to go on a lay-in by Jon English (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddon Twp.), which made the score 85-84.

Etown held Juniata scoreless for the final 2:27 while the Blue Jays ran up nine unanswered points.

Brian Loftus (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks West) led the Blue Jays with 23 points. He shot 10 for 14 from the field and pulled down eight rebounds. English led Etown with 10 rebounds and scored 19 points off the bench.

Five Blue Jays reached double figures in scoring for Etown. Point guard Rocky Parise (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt) added 12 points and dished out seven assists to lead the team.

Matt Nikoloff (Grove City, PA/Grove City) also scored 12 for Etown, and Chad Heller (New Holland, PA/Garden Spot) added 10 points.

Crandall led Juniata with 25 points, and he shot 5-10 from behind the three-point line.

Elizabethtown returns to action as host of a first round Commonwealth Conference playoff game Wednesday, February 21. The Blue Jays will face Albright at 8:00 p.m.