Elizabethtown was hanging by a thread.

Its once comfortable 12-point, second-half lead had been whittled to one in a matter of five minutes.

A heroic effort by Mike Schatzmann, following up his three-point miss with an offensive rebound and putback, gave the Blue Jays a three-point lead with 50 seconds left.

It was still a one-possession game, and Johns Hopkins three-point shooters Pat O'Connell and Doug Polster were on fire. Another bucket from downtown and the game would be tied.

Somebody had to make a play if E-town's unbeaten season was going to continue.

That somebody turned out to be an old Lancaster-Lebanon League star — Mike Church.

The 6-4 sophomore from Solanco intercepted a pass in the backcourt and rammed home a dunk, extending the lead to five points with 40 seconds remaining.

Four foul shots from there, two each by Bryce Rodgers and Chad Piersol, enabled E-town to post a 74-67 win over Johns Hopkins in the first round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Friday at York College.

It was a game-deciding play, one that Church had made many times at Solanco.

It was his first, as Dick Vitale might say, Prime-Time Player effort at E-town.

"I didn't think I was getting that one," Church said afterward. "But I was just kind of waiting for that. They had been trying to get it to their big guys. I just tried to read it."

And the exclamatory dunk?

"I didn't know if I could get off the ground," Church laughed.

The only unanimous selection to the All-L-L League team two years ago had a game that could define his college career.

He scored 16 points, tying Schatzmann, the 6-3 senior from Pequea Valley, for team high.

But he had a far better all-around game, with 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots, and three steals.

Behind Church's lead, Elizabethtown ran its record to 10-0, building onto its school record for best start in a season.

Counting a victory in last season's final game, it was E-town's 11th straight win. According to E-town's sports information department, that's the longest active streak among NCAA D3 schools.

The Jays will try to make it 12 in a row tonight at 6 when they play York College in the Coaches vs. Cancer championship game.

"This is awesome," Church said. "Everybody's stepping up. Everybody has his turn."

"I never expected it," E-town coach Bob Schlosser said of his team's 10-0 start.

"I really felt it was going to take us a while to figure out who we were and who to play. But we found our roles pretty quickly."

In Church's case, a trying freshman season convinced him he had to improve. So his offseason work was centered around developing a stronger left hand.

"In high school, he was so athletic that he pretty much could do what he wanted," Schlosser said. "Last year he found out that he needed to work on his left hand, that he wasn't going to block everybody's shot any more. He had to play position defense.

"And it takes time to do those things when you haven't had to do them for most of your life.

"But he's been a great student of the game. He has really come on and it's because he's worked at it.

"He's not there yet, but he's getting better."

Church still has athleticism, and Schlosser says "that at times carries him. The steal was a prime example.

"He had a lot of energy plays that really helped us. The steal and dunk were pretty impressive."

This was a game E-town wouldn't have won last season, when it struggled to a 9-15 finish. The Jays have already won a number of close ones this season.

"It's winning those close games that makes or breaks your season," said Schlosser. "It's learning to win when the chips are down."

This season, with an improved Mike Church, E-town has an Ace in the hole.

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