Elizabethtown College coach Bob Schlosser called it a must-win, and his team delivered Wednesday night.

The Jays knocked Albright out of first place in the MAC's Commonwealth Conference with a 79-75 win at E-town's Thompson Gym.

Two Lancaster County products, senior Mike Schatzmann from Pequea Valley and sophomore Mike Church from Solanco, led the way. Schatzmann scored 28 points and Church 19 as E-town kept alive its flickering conference playoff hopes.

The Jays improved to 15-6 overall but just 2-5 in the Commonwealth. That is tied with Lebanon Valley for fifth place, two games out of a playoff berth.

E-town has just three games left — at LVC Saturday, home against league leader Lycoming Tuesday, and at Widener Feb. 23. Schlosser speculated that his team would have to win three of the last four to get into the playoffs, and it got the first one last night.

E-town, which snapped a four-game losing streak, withstood a pair of potential game-tying shots in the closing seconds.

E-town had a 75-69 lead with 5:50 left, but then went scoreless for nearly three minutes.

Andre Murphy's jumper got Albright to within two, 77-75, with 37 seconds to go. Bryce Rodgers then hit a foul shot to extend E-town's lead to three.

Albright then missed on two 3-point field goal tries, and Schatzmann hit a foul shot with nine seconds left for the final margin.

Chad Piersol added 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for E-town.

Albert Medoro had 16 points and 14 boards for Albright (14-6, 4-3). L-S grad Zac Schaffer added 13 points off the bench for the Lions.

Albright had a horrible shooting night, making just 5 of 22 from 3-point range and 6-for-15 from the foul line.

E-town hit 7 of 14 3-point attempts.