Chester, PA — Messiah's bid for an upset in the MAC Commonwealth Playoffs came up short Wednesday night, as the Falcons dropped a 61-76 decision at top-seeded Widener University, concluding the team's season in the process.
Messiah (9-17) put forth a much stronger performance from its 58-77 loss to the Pride just four days earlier, but 22 Falcons' turnovers and an early second-half run from the hosts prevented things from being close down the stretch.
“We battled,” said Rick Van Pelt, Messiah head coach, “but I thought Widener played very well. There's a reason they were the best team in the conference.”
Widener senior Matt Sosna did most of the damage in the first half, scoring 15 of the Pride's 35 points to help his club to a 35-26 advantage at the intermission. A free throw from senior Jason Miller gave Messiah a 5-2 lead in the early moments, but a 6-2 run from Widener (21-5) put the hosts ahead 8-7 at the 14:20 mark — a lead the Pride would not surrender. Widener built an 11-point lead with just a minute remaining before the break, but two free throws from senior Drew Sneeringer provided the nine-point difference.
It would be the start of the second half that would greatly diminish the Falcons' hopes of an upset.
Following a pair of free throws from Miller, Widener scored 12 of the game's next 14 points, taking a 47-30 lead with 14:01 to play. Messiah missed four of its five shots from the floor during that stretch while turning the ball over twice, a drought eventually broken by an interior bucket from junior Andy Hawk.
“We had three or four wide open threes tonight that, had they gone down, the game might have been different,” Van Pelt said. “When we were shooting the ball like we were during our stretch where we won some games, those were automatic.”
Solid perimeter shooting was not to be on this night, however, as Messiah finished just four of 16 from long range (25 percent), including just a one for seven effort (14.3 percent) in the second half. The Falcons were able to pull within nine points on two different occasions in the final 7:25, but two big Widener responses negated any Falcons' momentum.
Sneeringer and Hawk paced Messiah's efforts, each scoring 13 points. Hawk grabbed a game-high six rebounds, while junior Kyle Snyder and sophomore Jamie Yoder each dished out a team-leading four assists.
Yoder scored just three points on one of six shooting, entering the game as one of a collection of Messiah players battling flu-like symptoms.
“You feel like that's an excuse, but it affected us,” Van Pelt said of his team's health. “We just weren't able to prepare the way we would have liked. Widener had some personnel issues, too, but it's tough to go out feeling like you didn't put your best foot forward.”
Messiah connected on a respectable 21 of 45 shots for the game (46.7 percent), but suffered greatly at the free throw line where Widener's 24 of 36 performance (66.7 percent) outdid the Falcons' 15 of 23 effort (65.2 percent) by quantity only. The Pride was able to secure extra possessions by forcing Messiah into the aforementioned 22 turnovers — Widener gave the ball away just 12 times.
“They're going to make you turn it over by the way they defend, but I thought that we had five or six that were solely on us,” Van Pelt said. “Those turnovers should have never happened.”
With the loss, Van Pelt says goodbye to seniors Sneeringer and Miller, as the guard tandem entered the program together four years ago. Fittingly, the duo came off the floor together Wednesday night, with just 1:40 remaining on the game clock.
“Those two guys have put a whole lot of effort and time into this program,” Van Pelt said. “They came in playing the same position, and were able to work together to make each other better. Drew really played well tonight, and we're going to miss him for a lot of reasons. He was a very creative passer and created opportunities for others. J-Mill was one of the most disciplined players that has ever come through this program. At the end of each season, we always look back and hope we can say that we overachieved. When Jason Miller looks back on his career, I think he can feel very good about what he was able to do for us. He got a whole lot out of himself, maybe more than anyone we've ever had.”
Van Pelt then reflected on the 2008-2009 campaign, a season that started with eight straight road games, an initial 2-10 record and a stretch of winning six of nine games late in the year.
“It was such a weird year for us,” he said. “We struggled at the beginning, but once we hit league play, I think we honestly believed we could win each game that we played. At the start of the year, I don't think that mentality existed. It was a good feeling to get to that point after not having it early.”
Van Pelt will now turn his attention to the recruiting trail, as Messiah's core group will look to build and improve in 2009-2010.
That still didn't help Van Pelt Wednesday night, who admittedly looked forlorn.
“Tomorrow is the worst day of the year,” he said. “But it would be the worst day even if you won a national championship, simply because you're not coming in together. I'd like to play ping pong with these guys, go swimming, whatever. They were an awful lot of fun to coach.”
