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Drew University Athletics

Nate Aldrich
Chris Pedota
85
Winner Drew DREW-M 15-5, 8-1 LC
78
Elizabethtown ETOWN 4-15, 1-8 LC
Winner
Drew DREW-M
15-5, 8-1 LC
85
Final
78
Elizabethtown ETOWN
4-15, 1-8 LC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Drew DREW-M 38 47 85
Elizabethtown ETOWN 33 45 78

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Rangers Rally Late to Top Elizabethtown

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Trailing by 10 points with less than nine minutes remaining, the Drew University men's basketball team (15-5, 8-1 Landmark) ended the game on a 27-10 run to notch an 85-78 victory over Elizabethtown (4-15, 1-8 Landmark) at Thompson Gymnasium on Wednesday night.  With the win, the Rangers completed their third consecutive season sweep of the Blue Jays.
 
Elizabethtown was leading 68-58 when Riley Collins (Lacey, N.J.) sank a trey with 8:43 left to begin the Drew comeback.  The Rangers tied it at 73-73 on a Nate Aldrich (Franklinville, N.J.) layup at the 3:44 mark.  Yonathan Napoleon (Los Angeles, Calif.) then sank a layup to put Drew ahead, 75-73.  A pair of Napoleon free throws capped a 12-0 run and gave the Rangers an 80-73 advantage with 2:24 to go.  The Blue Jays got back within four in the final seconds before Aldrich closed out the 85-78 triumph at the free throw line.
 
Aldrich had 21 points and 12 rebounds for his second straight double-double and ninth of the season.  He also recorded three blocks.  Darius Reiter (Littleton, Colo.) drained six treys and finished with 19 points, while Collins contributed 16 points and four assists.  Napoleon added 13 points, six rebounds and six assists.  Dan Roibal (Middletown, N.J.), meanwhile, tallied nine points and nine boards.  The Rangers shot 46 percent (29-of-63) from the field, including 40 percent (8-of-20) from beyond the arc, and 70.4 percent (19-of-27) at the foul line.
 
The Rangers got off to a hot start, as Reiter nailed treys on Drew's first two possessions, and it was 11-2 barely four minutes in.  After Drew went up 20-8 at the 13:30 mark, Elizabethtown went on a 9-2 spurt to pull within five, 22-17, with 9:06 left in the first half.  The Rangers pushed their lead back to 12 points at 33-21, but the Blue Jays again responded, trimming the margin to just five, 38-33, at intermission.
 
After the teams traded baskets to start the second half, Elizabethtown went on a 10-3 run to take the lead, 45-43.  A Reiter trey put the Rangers back in front, 46-45, before a three-point play by Bryce Green sparked a 17-5 spurt that gave the Blue Jays their largest lead of the game, an 11-point, 62-51 cushion with 12:04 remaining.  Drew scored the next six points to get back within five, 62-57, but Elizabethtown responded with a 6-1 rally to bring the margin back to 10 points, 68-58, with 8:52 left.
 
For the Blue Jays, Green led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds.  Connor Moffatt recorded 20 points, nine boards and three assists, and Michael Pastore tallied 12 points and four assists.  Ethan DuBois handed out five assists to go along with 10 points, while Brandon Berry added 10 points of his own.  Elizabethtown shot 48.4 percent (31-of-64) from the floor and outrebounded Drew 38-37.  The Blue Jays went 9-for-21 (42.9 percent) from long range, but were just 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) at the charity stripe.
 
First-place Drew now has a two-game lead in the Landmark Conference standings with five contests remaining in the regular season.  The Rangers visit Catholic (12-8, 6-3 Landmark), which is in a four-way tie for second place, at 2 p.m. on Saturday.  Drew snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Cardinals with a 91-83 victory at Baldwin Gymnasium on Dec. 2.
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