Elizabethtown, PA — The rulebook for college basketball calls for the duration of a regulation game to be 40 minutes.
Messiah head coach Rick Van Pelt knows the importance of playing quality basketball for that length of time. In the Falcons' outing a week ago against 22nd-ranked Wittenberg University, Messiah gave the Tigers all they could handle before eventually losing a 13-point second half lead in a 66-61 loss.
On Saturday afternoon at Elizabethtown College, 40 minutes weren't enough. Forty-five minutes were required after the host Blue Jays mounted a furious second-half comeback to defeat the Van Pelt's team, 69-64 in overtime.
“This one is tough,” Van Pelt said after the final horn had sounded. “We were in control, but for a variety of reasons it got away.”
Playing against Messiah's biggest rivals, Van Pelt must've walked out of Thompson Gymnasium with a queasy feeling in his stomach after the Falcons gradually saw a 16-point second half lead fade away.
The Blue Jays recorded their first tie of the game on a Mark Vogel three-pointer with 1:13 left in regulation, knotting the game at 55. After Messiah responded to take the lead, E'Town scored points on consecutive trips to take their first lead of the afternoon with :27 seconds remaining.
Freshmen Chris Yoder connected on a layup with 16 ticks on the clock to tie the game at 59-59 — a bucket that would stand up to send the game into overtime.
In the very end, it wasn't enough though as the Blue Jays outscored Messiah 10-5 in the extra session and dropped the Falcons to 4-3 and 0-2 in the Commonwealth Conference.
From the outset of Saturday's contest, however, it looked like it might be Messiah as the team that would run away with things.
Senior Jamie Yoder got things off on the right foot for the Falcons by nailing a triple before a minute had ticked off the clock.
On Messiah's next possession, junior Colton Reitz picked up an offensive rebound and finished the put-back for a quick 5-0 Falcons' lead.
After 10 minutes of back-and-forth action, it was Messiah who delivered the first game-changing run, courtesy of solid free-throw shooting and four long-balls.
The 'Jays Joe Flanagan hit a three-pointer with 7:22 left in the opening half and Messiah held a slim 18-16 lead. Over the course of the next 5:11 of game time, however, the Falcons used an 18-4 run to open up a 36-20 lead; what would be their biggest advantage of the afternoon.
Reitz got things rolling with two free throws before sophomore Phil Ribbens picked up a steal on the defensive end. Ribbens completed the trip to the other end by nailing a three-pointer.
Following an E'Town layup, junior Tyler Ritzman hit a three-pointer of his own. The Jays quickly responded with a short jumper but it was Chris Yoder one-upping the two-point basket with his attempt from behind the arc.
Just shy of 90 seconds later, Reitz converted two free throws before Chris Yoder connected on yet another three-pointer on the ensuing possession after an Elizabethtown miss.
The momentum in Thompson Gymnasium was all in favor of the visitors as Messiah ended up taking a 37-25 advantage into the break.
“Our guys played extremely hard,” Van Pelt said. “We moved the ball well in the first half, I thought we defended fairly well. We just couldn't sustain that through the second half.”
For whatever Messiah did well in the first half, the host Blue Jays sure didn't take a lot of time to right their wrongs in the second half.
Though Messiah regained its 16-point lead early in the second stanza, by the time the clock read 11:46, the Falcons held a slim one-point edge (43-42).
Senior Kyle Snyder drilled a three-pointer with 4:14 left and the Falcons had regained a seven-point advantage (55-48).
However, on the offensive end, the Falcons went dry on four straight trips. For Elizabethtown (5-3, 1-1), the Jays scored on three of their four trips, including one trip where they recorded three consecutive offensive rebounds. The back end of the four trips were two free throws by Travis Mettler, while E'Town's next possession resulted in Vogel's three-pointer that tied the game at 55.
After both teams traded empty possession to start the overtime session, the Jays' Keith Fogel hit a three-pointer to give E'Town a lead it would not relinquish.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, three of their 16 turnovers came during the overtime session. Combined with a two-for-six effort from the floor in the extra session, Messiah couldn't overcome the Blue Jays.
“We had several opportunities to come up with a loose ball, make an open shot and maintain possession of the ball to take time off the clock, but we were not able to do enough of those things to win,” Van Pelt said. “As much as it stings, it's another chance for us to learn how to be a better team. I'm confident that will be our focus as we go into this next week.”
For Messiah, Reitz was a bright spot as he recorded his first career double-double with game-highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds. The 6-6 forward connected on all six of his free throw attempts to go along with his six-for-10 performance from the field. Jamie and Chris Yoder each reached double digits with 11 points, while Snyder pulled down double-digit rebounds with 10.
The Falcons were 21 for 54 (38.9 percent) from the field while hitting 10 of their 24 (41.7 percent) attempts from behind the arc. At the charity stripe, Messiah was 12 for 14 (85.7 percent).
Van Pelt's squad now takes a more than one-month layoff from conference play before their next Commonwealth tilt on Jan. 9 against Widener University.
Before that, however, Messiah will return to the court this upcoming weekend, hosting its own Messiah/Hampton Inn Hotel Invitational. The Falcons will take on Valley Forge Christian College on Friday evening at 5:30 p.m.. Dickinson College will then battle Williamson Trade School in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m. Both winners from Friday will play on Saturday at 3 p.m. while the consolation game will occur at 1 p.m. All games will take place in Brubaker Auditorium.
