Grantham, PA — Ask Messiah head coach
Rick Van Pelt what the key was to the Falcons' 63-50 win over new MAC Commonwealth rival Arcadia University Wednesday night, and his answer smacks of forthrightness:
“We simply made shots in the second half, when we needed them.”
Messiah (3-11, 1-1) did make shots in the final period — half of them, to be exact — helping to snap a six-game losing skid and even its record in the tough MAC Commonwealth Conference, defeating an Arcadia team that just switched from the MAC Freedom Conference at the outset of the 2008-2009 academic year. The Falcons' 12 of 24 second-half effort from the field was a season-best mark save for a 51.9 percent effort against the College of Wooster back on Nov. 22, but Wednesday's effort was all the more important, at least according to Van Pelt.
“Every league game is tough, because this is what everyone plays for,” he said. “The six game (losing streak), you can't get caught up in that. You have to take each game individually. People (in this conference) are beating each other up all over the place. At some point, win or lose, you have to be ready for the next game.”
Messiah appeared ready for a drawn-out battle with Arcadia (6-8, 1-1) from the outset, as the Knights kept things close for the majority of the night. Though the contest would only boast six lead changes and two ties, neither team would lead by more than five points throughout the game's first 31 minutes of action.
The visiting Knights opened by making five of its first seven shots from the field to claim a 10-5 lead, and still led by that margin at the 9:31 mark (15-10). A post basket from junior Andy Hawk would start a 10-0 Messiah run, however, as the lanky forward accounted for seven of those points: A trailing three and another post bucket complemented free throws from sophomores Colton Reitz (two) and Tyler Storch (one) during the run, and Messiah led by a 20-15 score with just 4:43 to play in the half.
The Falcons' lead would be trimmed to just 23-21 at the break, however, and Arcadia would carry over its push into the opening moments of the second period. This time, the Knights made five of its first six shots from the field, taking a 31-27 lead just four minutes into the final stanza.
Yet another three ball from Hawk would again turn the tide, as Messiah slowly began a methodical comeback. The Falcons traded buckets with Arcadia, failing to knot things up, until sophomore Tyler Ritzman knocked down a deep three pointer at the 12:56 mark to make it a 35-35 ballgame.
Arcadia would score the game's next four points to claim a brief 39-35 advantage, but a barrage of Messiah three balls would eventually ignite the Brubaker Auditorium crowd. Sophomore Josh Hartman made it a one-point game with a shot from deep on the Falcons' next possession, and senior Jason Miller followed with an acrobatic layup in transition. A jumper on Arcadia's next possession reclaimed a 41-40 lead for the visitors, but a power layup from Hawk on Messiah's next trip gave the hosts a 42-41 advantage.
Incredibly, it would be one that Messiah would not relinquish.
A forced turnover on the defensive end led to yet another trey from Hawk on Messiah's next offensive series, and one made Arcadia free throw was answered with another Hartman three ball one trip later. That bucket gave the Falcons a 48-42 lead with 8:54 remaining. The team would have an answer for each Knights' push from there on in.
Arcadia rattled off four quick points to pull within a 48-46 difference at the 6:44 mark, but another driving layup from Miller was followed by a pull-up jumper from Hartman — his second two-point field goal of both the game and the season — to make it a 52-46 spread with 4:09 left.
A steady effort from the free throw line would prevent Arcadia from getting any closer than five points down the stretch, as Messiah buried nine of its last 10 charity tosses in the final 3:49.
“A lot of guys stepped up at crucial points of the second half,” Van Pelt said. “Hartman was big for us, hitting two big threes, (Tyler) Ritzman had a couple big shots, and what can you say about Andy Hawk? He was great from the floor and the free throw line.”
Hawk finished with a career-high 23 points on eight of 11 shooting, making all four of his free throws as well. He also grabbed six boards, equaling a team-high. Miller finished with 12 points going six for six from the charity stripe, while Hartman recorded 11 points on four of six shooting.
The win came in just Messiah's third home game of the season.
“Having a home court advantage is nice,” Van Pelt said. “Even though we don't play here much this year, our schedule is nice in that most of our league games at home are during the week, and our away games are on weekends. It's a lot nicer playing on the road during a Saturday afternoon than having to be hours away from campus at 7:30 on a weeknight.”
Arcadia was limited to just 20 of 48 shooting from the floor (41.7 percent), Messiah's best defensive field goal percentage in its last nine games. The team also connected on a season-best 50 percent of its attempts from three-point land, shooting just 16 from long range after averaging 27.3 shots from deep in each of its last six games.
“Our ratio on threes was a little better than what it has been,” Van Pelt admitted. “We passed up some of the bad ones tonight and took some good ones. That's been a point of emphasis for us.”
The Falcons will return to the road next, traveling to Lebanon Valley College for another league tilt Saturday. The men's game is slated to begin at 2 p.m. in the Dutchmen's LVC Gymnasium. Live stats for the game are available.
