Grantham, PA — If utilizing the analogy that made baskets in basketball are like landed punches in a boxing match, then Saturday afternoon's Messiah College – Elizabethtown College men's basketball match-up was a prize fight.
To the joy of a sold-out Brubaker Auditorium, it went the distance.
Messiah avenged an earlier defeat to the Blue Jays with a 71-67 home win Saturday, making just enough plays down the stretch to come out on top of a brilliantly-played basketball game. After battling through 14 lead changes and 12 ties, it was the Falcons that came up with two big defensive plays and a grown-up basket from senior Darryl Brown late, assuring themselves at least a share of the MAC Commonwealth Conference lead at the end of the day.
It was all a bit to take in for Falcons' head coach Rick Van Pelt, whose team has now won three of its last four league contests and its last six games at home.
“You have to be thrilled to win a game like today's,” Van Pelt said. “E'Town is a tough team to get a win against. They pressure you defensively and hang in to make it that way. It was a great atmosphere today, and that makes it fun for the kids. Our entire league is starting to get this way, and it makes for some really good small college basketball-watching.”
A capacity 1,800 fans made their way to Brubaker Auditorium Saturday, while most — not including a boisterous Blue Jays contingent — went home happy. Elizabethtown (14-6, 1-5) jumped out to an early 10-5 lead, but Messiah (15-6, 4-2) collected its first lead of the game in a 17-14 score with 11:01 to play in the first half.
A close-knit battle ensued for literally the remainder of the game, as neither team would lead by more than six points in the first half and just five points in the second.
Elizabethtown's Chad Piersol buried a three pointer to give his squad a 19-18 lead with 10:14 to play in the first half, but a seven to nothing Messiah run made it a 25-19 Falcons' lead just three minutes later.
That margin slowly dwindled in the final six minutes of the period, however, as E'Town used five consecutive Falcons' misses from three-point land to take a 31-30 lead at the intermission.
Fitting to a see-saw affair, it was Messiah that came out with a strong push to open the second half of play. A three pointer from senior Jonathan Boyd offset a made free throw from E'Town to make the score 33-32, Messiah, while back-to-back layups from sophomore Andy Hawk and Brown gave the Falcons a 37-33 lead with 17:10 remaining.
Messiah would hang onto the lead for the game's next six minutes, taking its largest lead — 42-37 — after a Hawk three pointer at the half's 13:19 mark.
“Looking back, I really thought we established a tone defensively during the first few minutes of the second half,” Van Pelt said. “We kind of got some confidence from that, and I think that carried through to the end.”
Even with Van Pelt's team growing confidence, Elizabethtown's Mike Schatzmann did his best to shoot holes through it. The Blue Jays' senior finished with a game-high 30 points and made six three pointers, seemingly keeping his team in the game single-handedly.
Schatzmann buried the first of three second-half triples just seconds after Messiah grabbed its 42-37 advantage, pulling the visitors within two.
A three pointer from sophomore Jamie Yoder pushed Mesiah ahead 47-46 following a brief lead from Elizabethtown just moments later, but Schatzmann answered with a long ball of his own on the Blue Jays' next trip, giving the visitors a 49-47 lead.
Following traded baskets on the teams' next few possessions, it was Messiah that again settled into a somewhat lengthy lead. A layup from Hawk and a bucket from Brown were capped by a big three from Boyd at the game's 7:55 mark — a series that changed a 51-49 E'Town lead into a 54-53 Messiah advantage. The Falcons would hang on to at least a one-point lead until the 3:30 mark, when a pair of free throws from E'Town's Keith Fogel tied the game at 63-63.
With the tension heightening, Messiah came up empty on its next two possessions (Yoder missed a three and sophomore Josh Curtin was off on a runner in the lane), only for the Blue Jays' Bryce Rodgers to bury a contested jumper from the baseline, giving his team a 65-63 lead at the 2:14 mark.
Shaking off his miss just seconds earlier, Yoder accepted a pitch out from Brown at the 1:55 point and drilled his third three pointer of the night, pushing Messiah ahead 66-65.
Elizabethtown then scored two points over its next two possessions from the free throw line, a series that sandwiched an offensive foul called on Brown. With just 40 seconds to play, Messiah trailed by a 67-66 score.
It was Brown's time to shine.
Utilizing a clear-out on the left side of the floor, Brown drove hard to the baseline and spun back to the middle, getting off a hanging shot amidst tremendous defensive pressure.
The ball kissed gently off the glass and settled into the basket, giving Messiah a 68-67 advantage with just 27 seconds left to play.
“This was a game of players making plays, and Darryl made a big one for us with that basket,” Van Pelt said. “We had a couple of different options we were looking at (during a timeout), but Darryl wanted that shot.”
As big as it may have been, the Falcons would earn the victory on the defensive end of the floor.
With the sellout crowd on its feet, Messiah delivered two crucial defensive stops. As E'Town looked to get Schatzmann a shot, Yoder stole a pass from the Blue Jays' Phil Schaffer with 16 seconds to play. Curtin came up with the ball and was immediately fouled, making one of two from the line to put Messiah up by a 69-67 difference with 13 seconds remaining.
With an even bigger onus on the team's defensive abilities, Yoder was again there in a big way. This time looking to create for himself, Schatzmann drove hard to the basket, getting on Brown's side. Yoder slid in to take the charge, being mauled by his teammates immediately.
With the game still in doubt, it was Messiah's other senior coming up clutch, as — after E'Town fouled to stop the clock — Boyd buried two free throws with just three seconds on the clock to provide the final, four-point cushion.
Hawk led the Falcons with 16 points, while Boyd added 14 on a four of seven performance from behind the arc. Curtin scored 13 points, while Brown added 10 other points aside from his game-changing field goal late.
“At the end of the game we really started to just play basketball,” Van Pelt said. “We stopped calling as many sets and we started to just play. We shared the basketball more, we moved the ball better and we became harder to guard. We made some kick-outs for some big threes and got some offensive rebounds.”
Schatzmann's 30 points was the second-highest individual point total Messiah allowed this season, while the Falcons placed four players in double-figure scoring for the third occasion. Both teams connected on nearly 50 percent of their shots, making Saturday's game one of the most efficiently scored contests of the year.
“Players just made plays today,” Van Pelt remphasized. “Obviously, Schatzmann was incredible, but we had guys that got really comfortable just making decisions and making plays. We became a lot less predictable late in the game, and we stopped trying to figure them out and started playing basketball. That was the biggest difference to me.”
Messiah now shares the top record in the MAC Commonwealth, and will have another piece to the puzzle fall into place Wednesday: The Falcons will travel to Lycoming College Wendesday night, a team that shares an identical 4-2 league mark with Messiah. Game time is set for 8 p.m.
