MADISON, N.J. (Jan. 13, 2016) – Senior guard
Mike Klinger tied a career-high with 33 points as the Drew University men's basketball team hung on at the final buzzer to defeat Elizabethtown College, 76-73, in a wire-to-wire Landmark Conference contest on Wednesday evening in Baldwin Gymnasium.
The Rangers (8-7) improve to 5-2 in the Landmark Conference while jumping into second place over idle Catholic and Juniata (4-2). Elizabethtown (2-13) drops to 0-7 in league play. Klinger matched his career-best output (last achieved 364 days ago at Elizabethtown) on 12-of-21 shooting with a 6-of-12 mark from beyond the three-point arc. The co-captain added five rebounds and three assists.
His co-captains and classmates,
Brian McLaughlin (16 points) and
Kevin Herring II (13 points, nine rebounds) joined the double-digit scoring efforts. McLaughlin did half of his damage on the free throw line (8-of-11) after executing aggressive drives to the basket and drawing a foul on a three-point attempt, and subsequently sinking all three from the charity stripe.
The Rangers never trailed after the opening minute of play until the final minute of play, when Elizabethtown hit a jumper from just inside the foul line to take a 73-72 lead with 49 seconds left on the clock. Drew's response came 13 seconds later on a Klinger jumper that put Drew back ahead for good, but not before a couple of defensive stops and some free throw shooting. The Blue Jays missed three game-tying or go-ahead attempts down the stretch while McLaughlin and sophomore
Blaine Taylor cleaned things up at the foul line to edge the Blue Jays.
The first half featured a few scoring runs by Drew to methodically build a 12-point lead, but Elizabethtown refused to go quietly. The Blue Jays managed an 8-0 run to cut the deficit, but Drew maintained its advantage with two 3-pointers by junior guard
Joey Feinberg on back-to-back possessions, both assisted by Klinger. Elizabethtown again had the answer with another 8-0 run to cut the Drew lead to 33-31 with three minutes left in the half. Klinger nailed a triple in the final minute of the period, but the Blue Jays beat the buzzer with a layup to set the score at 39-35 at the intermission.
E-Town continued to hover around as Drew tried to build its lead behind Klinger's sharp shooting in the second half, and succeeded up until the 11:37 mark when the Rangers capped an 8-2 run to regain a double-digit lead at 58-48 thanks to a three-point play by Herring. Two minutes later, McLauglin stretched the lead back to 11 with his three made free throws. The resilient Blue Jays immediately responded with a 7-0 run, which turned into a 12-3 spurt to leave Drew's lead at 66-64 with just over four minutes to go, setting up the late-game dramatics.
Contributing to Elizabethtown's success was a 49-39 advantage in rebounding, along with a 42-14 victory in points in the paint. Additionally, the Blue Jays' bench scored 23 points compared to the Rangers' four.
Drew will get the opportunity to hand Landmark Conference foe Susquehanna University its first loss of the season as the 14-0 and No. 11 ranked Crusaders come to Baldwin Gymnasium for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, Jan. 16. All fans in attendance will receive a free t-shirt for the Blue Out T-Shirt Giveaway.
