It is almost shameful to think how far Elizabethtown College's men's basketball team has fallen in a span of roughly two weeks.

Back on Jan. 21, the Jays broke into the D3hoops.com national poll, at No. 25. They were 13-1 and playing with swagger.

Today, they are not only out of any national polls, but they find themselves in a fight to make their own conference playoffs.

Tuesday night, they dropped their fourth MAC Commonwealth Conference game in five outings, 88-77, to Widener in Thompson Gym at Elizabethtown.

They are 14-5 overall, but just 1-4 in the Commonwealth with five games left. They are 2½ games out of first, 1½ games out of the fourth and final playoff berth.

"Now we've got to bear down," E-town coach Bob Schlosser said late Tuesday night. "We've got five games left. We've got to find a way to get some Ws."

The Jays might've hit rock bottom against Widener. Up by 23 points at halftime, they lost by 11.

Widener put up 64 points in the second half.

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself," Schlosser answered when asked what happened.

"They press all the time, so you either get an easy basket or you're going to turn it over. They take you out of your offense.

"The first half we didn't turn it over and got a lot of easy looks. The second half we turned it over a bit and got on our heels on the offensive end.

"And defensively we just fell apart. We gave up a lot of easy baskets and were gassed down the stretch."

E-town turned it over 15 times in the second half alone, 21 for the game.

Asked if it was one of his most difficult losses, Schlosser said, "You're probably right, especially with the timing of it.

"We really needed to get this one. We've been slipping a little bit and we had this one in our grasp and let it go."

E-town held a 53-29 lead with 17:38 remaining, but Widener went on a 27-11 tear over the next seven minutes to cut the deficit to 64-56 with 10:41 left.

With E-town up 68-58, Widener went on an 11-1 run to tie it at 69.

The Pride finished the game on a 17-6 run to complete the 36-point turnaround.

Widener shot 68.8 percent in the second half.

"You're up 23 at the half, you should find a way to hang in there, so I'll take the blame for that one," Schlosser said.

Chad Piersol had 21 points for E-town. Mike Church (Solanco) added 15.

Six players scored in double figures for Widener, led by Matt Sosna, who scored 22, including 18 in the second half.

Widener improves to 17-3 overall, 3-2 in the Commonwealth.

"We're either so really good or really bad," Schlosser said. "I'm still a little baffled.

"We've proven we are (good enough). And I don't believe it's just talk. But now we've got to put those words into action."

CONTACT US: hzeigler@LNPnews.com or 291-8777