Grantham, PA — Junior
Jamie Yoder had a career-high 21 points, but it was a true team effort that helped Messiah to a gulp-inducing, 73-69 win over Albright College Tuesday night in Brubaker Auditorium.
In a game where big baskets were the norm, it was Messiah that made more of them, taking a one-point lead with 8:25 to play and never surrendering it — an impressive output given the Falcons' incoming 1-3 record in games decided by six points or less this season.
“I've said it before, but it helps being at home,” said Rick Van Pelt, Messiah head coach. “We've had some games this year that we felt we should have won, but we made some bad decisions or didn't get the defensive stops we should have had. Tonight, we had guys step up all over the place. We made big shots, we were pretty smart with our shot selection, and we competed for the entire game.”
Messiah (4-12, 2-2) and Albright (11-6, 2-2) appeared prepped for a lengthy battle, as eight lead changes and seven ties occurred in the first half alone. The Lions took as much as a four-point lead on a pair of occasions, but a hanging layup from Yoder and a deep three ball from senior Drew Sneeringer answered each disparity on the Falcons' ensuing possessions.
When senior Jason Miller hit a runner with 47 seconds to play in the first period, the game was tied 32-32. Albright's Zac Shaeffer responded with a baseline scoop 14 seconds later, only to be answered again on a pull-up from Yoder with just 5.7 seconds on the game clock.
To no one's surprise, the halftime score was 34-34.
“You just had a sense that this one was going to be that way,” Van Pelt said.
Things changed little in the latter 20 minutes, though it was Albright that made the first significant push. The visitors knocked in three of their first five shots from the floor, taking a 41-34 advantage just three and a half minutes in. A well-defended face-up jumper from Albright's Matt Bazsika was pure at the 14:57 mark, and the Lions maintained their lead in a 45-38 score.
It was at that point that Messiah showed its true mettle, going on a 20-6 run over the game's next eight minutes to capture a seven-point lead of its own. Sophomore Colton Reitz began the push with a tough post move against 6-10 Albright freshman Derek Hall, while a barrage of threes would accout for nine of the Falcons' next 11 points: Yoder knocked down back-to-back long balls at the 12:40 and 11:34 junctures, while Reitz again scored one-on-one in the post with 11 minutes to play.
After Albright hit a free throw to pull back ahead by a 49-48 score with 9:34 to go, senior Jason Miller rung up his lone three ball of the evening, putting Messiah on top by a 51-49 advantage with 8:25 to play. Messiah got a defensive stop on Albright's next trip, and Miller sliced through the defense for a twisting layup, plus a foul.
Uncharacteristically, Miller would miss the and-one opportunity — en route to an ultra-rare 0-4 night at the foul line — though junior Andy Hawk would pull down the offensive board. Now leading 53-49, Messiah worked the ball until 5-8 sophomore Josh Hartman drove amongst the trees for a lay up attempt — a shot that rimmed out but was tipped in by junior Andy Hawk.
That bucket would be only one of two for Messiah's leading scorer, as Hawk played a total of 10 minutes after being saddle with foul problems, eventually fouling out with just under a minute to play.
Despite Hawk being a non-factor, Messiah somehow persevered. A driving layup from Albright's Andrew Pomager cut the Falcons' lead to just 55-51 on the Lions' next possession, but another huge shot from long range — this one from Hartman — gave Messiah a 58-51 advantage with 7:04 to play. Yet another layup from the visitors answered that basket, but Yoder dialed his fourth shot from distance on the Falcons' next possession, making it a 61-53 advantage — and sending Brubaker Auditorium rocking.
From that point, the back-and-forth possession game continued. And Messiah seemed to have an answer every time it needed one. A three from Albright's Pomager trimmed the advantage back to five points, but again Reitz went to work down low, this time putting a nifty crab dribble on 6-11 Lions center Phil Hall.
Trailing 63-56, Albright would respond with four straight points, as Messiah came up empty on three straight possessions. With the game hanging in the balance at 63-60, it was Snyder ringing a three at the 3:35 mark, keeping Messiah's lead in tact at 66-60.
Four straight free throws from the Lions would again make things palpably tight, as Messiah clung to just a 66-64 lead with 1:23 to play. Both teams traded defensive stops preceding a Messiah timeout, as head coach Rick Van Pelt looked to draw up a play to make it a two possession game.
Both his play — and the execution thereof — were beautiful.
With the shot clock winding down, Miller got the ball on the right wing and drove hard down the middle, finishing a highly-contested left-handed layup at the pinnacle of his leap, setting both the Messiah bench and the rest of Brubaker into a frenzy.
Albright was able to cut the lead to three points (68-65) after making one of two free throws on its next possession, but Sneeringer kept things from getting any closer on Messiah's next trip, banking in a runner from the right wing with just 25 seconds to play.
Albright would not go quietly, making a layup and two more free throws in the game's final 18 seconds, but made free throws from Yoder would ice things: With a 71-69 lead in hand and just 2.8 seconds on the clock, Yoder made both charity tosses, finalizing the end result and moving his team back to .500 in league play.
“Down the stretch, I honestly thought we were trading baskets too much, and didn't get the defensive stops when I thought we needed them,” Van Pelt said. “Maybe I'm being greedy. We hit some big threes, obviously, and that kind of kept us going. If we knock down shots, that's big for us. It ignites us and give us a little spark. I think that was certainly the case tonight.”
Yoder's career high came on seven of 12 shooting from the floor, including a four for five effort from three-point land. Miller added 15 points to go with three assists, two steals and two blocks, while Reitz equaled a season-high 11 points for the second straight game. Messiah made just 27 of 59 total shots (45.8 percent) compared to 26 of 54 (48.1 percent) for Albright, but the difference was behind the arc: The Falcons converted nine of 16 from deep (56.3 percent), a season-high clip.
“When we have balance offensively, like we did tonight, we're a much better team,” Van Pelt said. “When we're not jacking up 25-plus threes, we're a better team. I thought tonight our threes came at better times than in games' past. Most of them that we made were late in the shot clock, after making (Albright) guard us. Our ball movement and player movement made us harder to guard.”
Messiah also outrebounded its opponent for the third time in four conference game (a 40-34 disparity Tuesday night), an impressive feat given Albright's 39.1 rebound-per-game average, the top ratio in the MAC Commonwealth Conference. The Falcons entered the game sixth in the league in that category.
“I thought we battled, but I still think there's room for improvement,” Van Pelt said. “Our defensive field goal percentage was not good, but it got better in the second half. I thought we started coming up with some loose balls that we didn't get early in the game. I also thought our bench was just phenomenal tonight. Colton Reitz, Josh Hartman, (Sophomore) Tyler Storch and (freshman) Danny Wrigley all gave us a big boost at varying points. Those guys make us a little more dynamic.”
With the win, the Falcons head to league-leading Widener University Saturday for yet another pivotal contest. A win there, and the Falcons would be guaranteed a share of first-place heading into next week's play.
“Obviously Widener has proven to be the best team in the league, so we're excited to see what we can do against those guys,” Van Pelt said. “At this point, every game is a grind. We'll look forward to Saturday.”
Game time is set for 3 p.m. at Widener's Schwartz Athletic Center.
