Box Score

Chris DeRojas (Kingston, Pa./Bishop O'Reilly) scored a season-high 27 points, while Steve Kline (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) added 19 but it wasn't enough as Elizabethtown took a 71-69 win over Wilkes University in the second game of the Wilkes-Barre Challenge. 

 

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Colonels as they moved to 5-3 on the year. 

 

DeRojas and Kline were the only two Wilkes players to score in double-figures, while Chris Gulla (Berlin, N.J./Eastern Regional) put in eight and Anthony Gabriel (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) chipped in with six. Keith Fogel put up a team-high 17 points for Elizabethtown, while Mike Church and Joe Flanagan had 15 points each for the Blue Jays who improved to 6-5 on the year. 

 

DeRojas gave the Colonels an 11-10 lead with 13:53 to go in the first on one of his six three-pointers on the night, but Kyle McConnell gave Elizabethtown the lead after hitting a 15-foot jumper just a few seconds later. The Blue Jays would hold the advantage the rest of the half and led by as many as 10 with 6:19 to go.   

 

Wilkes closed out the first half with a 7-3 run that was capped off on a three-pointer with four seconds to go before the break to pull the Colonels within two (41-39) at the break. 

 

The second half was much like the first as the Blue Jays held the lead until Gabriel knocked down a pair of free throws to give Wilkes a 50-48 advantage with 12:45 to go. The Colonels held the lead until Kyle McConnel hit a pair of free throws of his own, giving the Blue Jays a 56-54 lead they would not lose the rest of the way. 

 

Both teams exchanged buckets the rest of the way until the Colonels used a 5-0 run with 1:06 to go to pull within three (69-66). Tom Kresge (Brodheadsville, Pa./Pleasant Valley) knocked down an 18-footer with just over a minute to go, but Wilkes would not score again until DeRojas made his final three-pointer of the night with six seconds to go.