This masterpiece had smudges, but only tiny ones.
Elizabethtown did commit 18 turnovers. It missed seven of 21 free throws, and 10 of 14 three-pointers.
It was outscored 36-15 by DeSales over the game's final 12:10.
But that only serves to drive home the remarkable fact that with 12:10 left, the Blue Jays led a 13-1 team by 32 points.
E-town blasted DeSales 80-69 at Thompson Gym Saturday. It had to have been, at least for 32 minutes, one of the most dominant performances of the coach Bob Schlosser Era, now in its 19th year.
The Jays (13-1) put it all together Saturday.
"That [DeSales] is a quality team," Schlosser said. "I expected a close game. I'm sure they're thinking they might see us again."
Indeed, the Bulldogs' lone loss before Saturday was at Bridgewater (Va.), and they had outscored their opponents by 15 points per game.
But the Jays took away DeSales' inside game with a focused and relentless effort.
The star of that show was point guard Phil Schaffer, who hounded DeSales point Eddie Ohlson, averaging nearly nine assists per game, into a six-assist, five-turnover day by rarely if ever allowing Ohlson to make a comfortable entry pass.
When the ball did get to leading scorers Phil Strickler and Ed Lapinski on the low block, two or three Blue Jays were very close by.
"Defensively, we had a lot of focus," Schlosser said. "Stopping an inside game isn't just on the inside players, it's on everybody.
"We made them work, and I think they really got tired at key moments."
On the other end, E-town did kick the ball around a little and didn't shoot great early, given the chances it had.
But Chad Piersol hit a three with 8:24 left in the half and, it turned out, the Jays were off.
They got 15 points out of their next seven possessions, and a 15-2 run, which built the lead to 35-19.
E-town also scored the last nine points of the half, with Bulldog tongues hanging out, to lead 46-25.
"Even though we were up 21, I was still worried," Schlosser said.
He needn't have been. The first six minutes of the second half were his team's cleanest and best of the day. They scored on eight of their first nine possessions to remove any doubt about the outcome.
After that Schlosser played a lot of people, in some unusual units, and E-town sort of limped home.
DeSales kept fighting, hit six threes in the final 10 minutes, and made the final score absurdly deceptive.
Piersol scored 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting in just 28 minutes. Mike Schatzmann seemed on the verge of exploding most of the day, never quite did, but still finished with 16.
Mike Church, the improving sophomore from Solanco, scored 12, that felt like more than that, on 6-of-8 shooting.
The Jays outrebounded a opponent with some size 34-28. They shot 54 percent from the field.
It's all good. Except that for all that's already been accomplished, for all the mileage the Jays have put between themselves and last year's sub-.500 season, indeed for how smoothly they're cruised by the York loss two weeks back ...
They haven't played a league game yet. As far as the playoff berths and NCAA bids that will define their season, they really haven't gotten started.
Of course that will all change fast, with Commonwealth Conference games Tuesday at Lycoming and Saturday, here, against tough Messiah.
"It's really odd, but you can't worry about things you have no control over," Schlosser shrugged.
"This is what you work for. You certainly can't get full of yourself. I don't think we will."
Mike Gross is a Sunday News sports writer. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com.
