Grantham, PA — Following Saturday night's 77-69 win over York College, Messiah head coach
Rick Van Pelt seemingly learned another positive trait about his ballclub:
Adaptability.
After an administrative snafu placed no game officials on site for the contest's scheduled 7 p.m. start time in Brubaker Auditorium, Messiah administrators scrambled to acquire three referees at a moment's notice — thus pushing the start time back to 8 p.m.
When the game finally did begin, it was Messiah (4-1) that seemed better prepared following the delay, jumping out to a 40-29 halftime lead and hanging on down the stretch, never trailing in its third home win in as many tries on the year.
“After we learned there were no officials, we just tried to make the best of it,” Van Pelt said. “What else are you going to do? I just appreciate everyone sticking around for an extra hour. Being a game over (Thanksgiving) break, it was a really good crowd. They gave us an atmosphere, and we're really appreciative of that.”
Perhaps surprisingly, few in attendance left during the hour-long wait, as event staff passed the time with audience shooting contests and continual progress updates over the public address system.
After Van Pelt's team spent the delay in their locker room — York (5-1) remained on the floor shooting around — it was clear that Messiah was more ready to go, handing the Spartans their first loss of the season while holding the visitors well under their 83.2 points-per-game average.
“They're an explosive team on the offensive end,” Van Pelt said. “I thought if we could control their shooters, and get our shooters some good looks, we'd have a good chance tonight.”
That was precisely the case in the first half, as Messiah canned 14 of 27 shots from the field (51.1 percent) and four of 11 from deep (36.4 percent), keeping York to just a pair of first-half three pointers.
One of those treys tied the game for the second and final time at 21-21 with 6:53 to play, but an answering three ball from senior Kyle Snyder was followed with back-to-back jumpers from classmate Jamie Yoder, giving Messiah a 28-21 lead with just under five minutes to go in the half.
When Yoder fed Snyder cutting through the lane on the Falcons' next trip, the hosts had a 30-21 lead — eventually ballooning to the 11-point halftime difference.
Messiah increased that spread to 14 points — 45-31 — early in the second half, but York's potent outside shooting would finally surface, eventually trimming the Falcons' lead to two points in the game's final four minutes.
Spartan three pointers on three consecutive possessions trumped a pair of layups from junior Colton Reitz seven minutes into the half, cutting the Messiah lead to just 53-45. When York's Kevin Whaley drove to the baseline and converted a hanging layup with 12:21 to go, Van Pelt called timeout with a 53-47 lead in hand.
“That's when I got nervous,” Van Pelt said afterward. “When they hit those three threes in a row … they got into a rhythm, and that's the type of team they are. They can score in bunches, and we needed to talk about what we could do to cut it off.”
A pair of free throws from Yoder and another driving bucket from Snyder would push Messiah's lead back to 10 (57-47) following the timeout, but York was far from being finished: A layup from the Spartans' Jeremy Skoloda sparked a 7-1 push with just under seven minutes to play, turning a 61-53 Messiah lead into a 62-60 difference with 3:41 on the clock.
As has been the case several times in this young season, Messiah got perhaps its biggest answer from the smallest player on the floor. With the shot clock winding down on the Falcons' next possession, 5-8 junior guard Josh Hartman drove hard to the basket from the top of the key, hanging in the air after getting bumped — and finishing the layup.
His ensuing free throw reclaimed a 65-60 Messiah lead, while the Falcons would come up with two more big buckets following York scores: With just 2:11 to play, a layup from the Spartans' Jeremy Keefer pulled the visitors within a 65-62 disparity. A hanging layup from freshman Chris Yoder pushed Messiah back ahead 67-62 with 1:44 to play.
With 1:20 on the clock, York leading scorer Nick Brady hit a ridiculous pull-up jumper, with a hand in his face. Snyder was there to respond, however, taking a nice feed from Chris Yoder on Messiah's next possession, regaining a 69-64 lead off an interior basket.
From there, York would cool off, missing two of its final three shots from the floor, committing a pair of turnovers in the game's final 26 seconds. Meanwhile, Messiah connected on all eight of its final free throws during the final 41 seconds, eventually regaining a nine-point lead with 25 seconds to go.
Only an ill-advised Falcons' foul on a York three-point attempt kept things remotely interesting until the final horn, as Messiah had hung on for another big win.
“Before the game, we talked about making more threes than (York) and trying to outscore them by 10 at the free throw line,” Van Pelt said. “Well, we made as many threes and hit our free throw goal.”
Both squads connected on five shots from downtown, but Messiah made 24 of 28 free throws (85.7 percent), dwarfing York's 12 of 14 performance (85.7 percent). Those numbers helped offset the fact that the Spartans attempted 22 more shots from the floor in the final 20 minutes, making four more shots than Messiah.
Balanced scoring was the storyline for Van Pelt's club, as all five starters scored in double figures. Jamie Yoder led the way with 16 points, while Hartman added 14. Chris Yoder finished with 12, while Snyder (11) and Reitz (10) aided the cause.
Again, Snyder's dominance was mostly felt in the rebounding aspect, as the 6-2 guard finished with a game-high 12 boards, just four days after posting a career-high 17 caroms in Messiah's 77-67 win over Lancaster Bible College. Saturday marked his 11th time posting a double-digit rebounding total, while it was the Northumberland, Pa. native's fifth career double-double.
“Kyle is a beast,” Van Pelt said. “It's so good to have someone like that on your team. I thought that Colton came on in the second half and gave us a true post presence, Jamie and Josh made some big baskets for us and Chris Yoder continues to give us some good things.”
Messiah has now won three of its last four games without the services of senior two-time all-conference performer and leading scorer Andy Hawk, who is out with a foot injury. Sophomores Mike Shaker and Trey Ritzman have also missed significant time with injuries, leading Van Pelt and company to make due with a limited lineup.
“I think we've got such great leadership from Jamie and Kyle, it's kind of started there,” Van Pelt said. “They have the intangible that every coach drives themselves crazy trying to instill in kids. It's that 'it' factor. That doesn't mean that they're going to win all the time, but they're going to compete like crazy. That's a good start.”
Messiah will open Commonwealth Conference play next, hosting Albright College in a men's-women's double-header Wednesday night. The women's game is slated to begin at 6 p.m., with the men's contest following immediately after.
“We've got our work cut out for us next week,” Van Pelt said. “Albright is big and good. We'll need to play extremely well to get off to the start we'd like.”
