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Grantham, PA – Messiah College fought hard with the Lions of Albright College on Saturday, ultimately dropping their first Commonwealth contest of the season by the score of 74-62.
Down by as many as 20 points in the first-half, the Falcons stormed back to find themselves within 55-53 with just under nine minutes remaining in the half; however, Messiah couldn't finish off their comeback, falling to the Lions for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
Albright took a 52-34 lead over Messiah with 17:40 left in the first-half, building upon a 14-point halftime lead.
But over the next 8:09, Messiah went on a 19-3 run to draw within 55-53. Driving layups by
Brad Bolen bookended the run, as he scored 11 total points over the stretch.
Now ahead by just two points, the Lions followed up two made free-throws from Kyle Jodran with back-to-back three-pointers by Andre Marshall to go up 63-53.
Possibly out of steam from their furious play to draw close, Messiah would only get to within six points over the final minutes.
“We got tougher in the second-half,” Messiah head coach
Rick Van Pelt said, commenting specifically on his team's run to get back in the game. “They were playing with more edge to that point, and it took us having our backs against the wall to find our own edge. But at that point, we couldn't get over the hump.”
The hump Van Pelt referenced was built in the game's first half, as Albright shot an impressive 59% from the floor to turn a 12-9 Messiah lead into a 31-16 advantage for the Lions. All five of the Lions' first-half three-pointers were collected during the stretch.
“They definitely made shots,” Van Pelt said. “We stalled a bit on our end, and I think they played with better energy than we did.”
Albright would take a 44-30 lead into the intermission, building a cushion able to withstand the Falcons' impressive run in the second-half.
The Lions were led in scoring by Kyle Jordan's 20 points, with Pedro Perez, Same Marrella, and Andre Marshall finishing with 14, 10, and 10 points respectively. Dave Singleton led the visitors with a game-high 13 rebounds.
Brad Bolen scored 23 points to lead Messiah, with
Zac Hoy and
Christyan DeVan scoring 12 points and 10 points, respectively. The Falcons committed 18 turnovers, while collecting just six assists. Albright countered with just 11 turnovers, with their ball movement creating 13 assists on their 28 made field-goals.
The win for Albright snaps a four-game losing streak against Messiah, as they move to 7-1 on the season. The victory also moves them to 3-1 in the Commonwealth Conference.
The Falcons fall to 3-1 in the Commonwealth, as they now stand at 4-3 overall.
Messiah will next play on Friday, Dec. 14, when they travel to Lycoming College to take on the Warriors in a rematch of last season's conference championship win for the Falcons.
