Senior Mike Schatzmann, a Pequea Valley grad, scored 24 of his career-high 34 points in the second half to lead Elizabethtown to the 900th win in program history, a 78-72 victory at Alvernia College in nonconference action Saturday afternoon.

Schatzmann, who also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, scored 12 points in the final 5 minutes as the Blue Jays (12-1) erased a 43-31 halftime deficit by holding the Crusaders (4-7) to 28.9 percent shooting in the second half and 36.2 percent for the game.

In all, four players scored in double figures for the Blue Jays, with senior Bryce Rodgers and sophomore Solanco grad Mike Church finishing with 12 points each and senior Chad Piersol adding 11.

Matt King led Alvernia with 21 points, with Terrence Shawell adding 15 and nine rebounds before fouling out with 3:07 to play. The Crusaders shot 36.2 percent (25 for 69) from the field.

After trailing by 12 at halftime, the Blue Jays opened the second half with a 23-4 run to take a 54-47 lead on a jumper by Church with 10:41 to play. At one point, Alvernia went more than five minutes without scoring, during which time the Blue Jays tallied 13.

Alvernia rallied back with eight straight points to move ahead 55-54 on a basket by Shawell with 9:21 to go, and the teams swapped the lead four times before Schatzmann gave the Blue Jays a 63-61 lead on his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 5:12 to go.

The Blue Jays led 69-63 following a foul shot by Piersol with 1:57 left, but the Crusaders tied the game at 69-69 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Derek Dubbs and King, the latter knotting the contest with 1:05 to go.

Schatzmann converted a 3-point play with 58 seconds left to give the Blue Jays the lead for good at 72-69, and added four foul shots in the final 20 seconds to keep the Crusaders from a late rally.

The Blue Jays finished 24-for-28 from the foul line and held a 44-34 edge in rebounding over the Crusaders. Elizabethtown committed 21 turnovers in the contest, leading to 28 points by Alvernia.

Also reaching double figures for the Crusaders were Tyrone Bradley, who tallied 12, and Zach Westmoreland who finished with 10.