The first 20 minutes of Saturday afternoon's non-conference tilt with Salisbury at Thompson Gymnasium probably had the crowd of nearly 260 wondering if the Elizabethtown College men's basketball team was already on its holiday break. The Blue Jays shot under 30 percent from the floor and committed 11 turnovers along the way. Needing a second half boost, a trio of Elizabethtown players answered the bell. Andrew Mantz scored 19 points, while Brian Allport and Joe Flanagan each had 17 to rally the Blue Jays past the Sea Gulls 72-66.

Elizabethtown (8-1) went nearly 35 minutes without holding a lead in the ballgame, but that changed on a Flanagan layup that put the Jays ahead 55-53 with 5:16 to go. A possession later, Allport scored off a pass from Brady Haughney to cap a 12-2 E-town run, and the home squad never trailed again. The Blue Jays would push their lead to as many as eight points, helping to bury their first half demons.

Bob Schlosser's group has been hit-or-miss in the first half of games this season, and unfortunately for the Blue Jays, Saturday's first half result made for an edgy second half. Salisbury was able to break the E-town press and get some easy transition buckets on its way to a 33-25 halftime lead. David Pearman, the Sea Gulls' 6-foot-6 swingman, dropped 13 of his game-high 27 in the opening stanza, while leading scorer Chris McGrew added seven.

Salisbury's offense was a far cry from E-town's, which converted just seven of its 24 first half field goal attempts. Keith Fogel was stymied into an 0-of-5 first half. Though the senior helped close the game out late with his foul shooting, he was held scoreless in a half for the first time since Feb. 21, 2009. Mantz (nine points) and Allport (eight points) carried the load in the opening 20 minutes in keeping the Jays within striking distance.

Pearman continued to be a thorn in E-town's side early in the second half. In a 30 second span he scored nine straight points to give the Gulls their largest lead of the afternoon, 44-32 with 16 minutes to play.

A jumper by Mark Vogel and a triple by Flanagan kick-started the Blue Jays' first big run of the half. Mantz added five points and Kyle McConnell two as E-town pulled even at 45 with 12 minutes remaining. Salisbury responded with six straight, before the Jays ripped off 12 of the next 14 points to take a lead would not relinquish. In all, Elizabethtown outscored Salisbury 25-9 from the 16 minute mark until there was just 5:08 left up on the scoreboard.

Though three players combined for exactly 75 percent of E-town's offense Saturday, other players stepped up when called upon. Haughney handed out a career-high six assists and Vogel chipped in six points. Dan Silver grabbed six boards and scored three points, while McConnell registered a game-high seven dimes. Fogel finished with six points on 1-of-8 shooting, but was 4-of-5 at the line.

E-town turned a putrid first half shooting effort into a respectable 39.7 percent for the game (23-of-58). The Blue Jays were much better in the second half as they clicked at a 47.1 percent clip (16-of-34), while outscoring Salisbury 47-33.

Salisbury's undoing wasn't in its offense. The Gulls stayed hot throughout the game, converting nearly half of their field goal attempts in the game (20-of-41). Twenty eight turnovers (14 in each half) turned out to be the visitors' bugaboo.

Elizabethtown finishes the 2010 calendar year with a 16-7 record, one that encompasses parts of this season and the 2009-10 season. The Blue Jays flip the page to 2011 when they host Penn State Berks on Wednesday, January 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.