ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Friday, January 4, 2008

Elizabethtown Improves to 10-0 With 74-67 Win over Johns Hopkins at Coaches vs. Cancer Classic

Click here for the box score

YORK, Pa. --- Four players finished in double figures as Elizabethtown College extended the longest current winning streak in Division III men's basketball to 11 games with a 74-67 victory over Johns Hopkins University in the opening round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at York College on Friday afternoon.

With the win, the Blue Jays (10-0 overall) advance to Saturday's championship game at 6:00 p.m. against York, which defeated Eastern University 99-76 in Friday's other first-round game.

Senior Mike Schatzmann (Paradise, PA/Pequea Valley) scored 16 points and sophomore Mike Church (Peach Bottom, PA/Solanco) added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Jays, who led by 12 points with 6:28 to play before Johns Hopkins (5-5 overall) rallied to within a point with two minutes left.

First-year student Keith Fogel (Mifflinburg, PA/Mifflinburg) added 13 points, five rebounds and six assists off the bench while senior Chad Piersol (Elverson, PA/Owen J. Roberts) added 12 points and six rebounds for Elizabethtown, which shot just 4-for-20 from three-point range but forced Johns Hopkins into 24 turnovers.

Pat O'Connell scored a team-high 22 points while Doug Polster added 19 points for Johns Hopkins, who went 12-for-32 from the field in the second half as a team after hitting 12-of-24 shots in the opening 20 minutes.

Johns Hopkins bolted to an early 18-7 lead with six minutes elapsed in the first half, but Etown mounted a 12-0 run to move ahead 19-18 with 10:51 left on a three-pointer by Schatzmann.

The Blue Jays took their largest lead of the first half at 34-26 on two foul shots by Church with 2:50 to play, and carried a 36-33 lead to intermission behind eight points by Fogel and seven each by Church and Schatzmann.

In the second half, the Blue Jays held a 64-53 lead with 6:04 to play, but Johns Hopkins rallied to within 66-65 on a three-pointer by Polster with 2:21 to go.

Schatzmann scored on a putback with 1:05 remaining to extend the Etown lead to 68-65, and a steal and dunk by Church pushed the Blue Jay lead to 70-65 with 39.5 seconds left.

Two foul shots with 22.2 seconds to go by senior Bryce Rodgers (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro), who finished with eight points, gave the Blue Jays a 72-65 lead, and two more by Piersol with 14.3 seconds left closed the scoring.

The Blue Jays' 10-0 record continues the best start in program history, while the win is the 898th victory in 80 seasons of intercollegiate men's basketball at Elizabethtown.

ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE 74, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV. 67
ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE (10-0)
Mike Church 5-8 6-8 16; Mike Schatzmann 6-16 2-2 16; Keith Fogel 6-10 1-1 13; Chad Piersol 4-13 3-4 12; Bryce Rodgers 3-6 2-3 8; Phil Schaffer 2-3 0-2 4; Josh Houseal 1-3 0-0 3; Nick Kennedy 1-3 0-0 2; Tony Romero 0-0 0-0 0; Matt Stein 0-0 0-0 0; Ben Schlosser 0-1 0-0 0; Jordan Dirago 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 28-66 14-20 74.
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY (5-5)
Pat O'Connell 6-8 8-10 22; Doug Polster 6-19 3-3 19; Andrew Farber-Miller 4-6 0-0 8; Kevin Roach 2-5 1-2 5; John Alberici 2-4 1-3 5; Collin Kamm 2-4 0-2 4; Phil Beggans 1-4 0-0 2; Adam Baumgartner 1-4 0-1 2; Ryan Purcell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 13-21 67.
Elizabethtown College......... 36 38 - 74
Johns Hopkins University...... 33 34 - 67
3-point goals--Elizabethtown College 4-20 (Mike Schatzmann 2-8; Chad Piersol 1-8; Josh Houseal 1-1; Ben Schlosser 0-1; Keith Fogel 0-2), Johns Hopkins University 6-21 (Doug Polster 4-12; Pat O'Connell 2-4; Collin Kamm 0-1; Phil Beggans 0-2; Ryan Purcell 0-2). Fouled out--Elizabethtown College-None, Johns Hopkins University-None. Rebounds--Elizabethtown College 43 (Mike Church 11), Johns Hopkins University 36 (Kevin Roach 11).
Assists--Elizabethtown College 14 (Keith Fogel 6), Johns Hopkins University 13 (Kevin Roach 4; Collin Kamm 4). Total fouls--Elizabethtown College 25, Johns Hopkins University 18. Technical fouls--Elizabethtown College-None, Johns Hopkins University-None. A-275