Grantham, PA — Consider it a case of just being really, really efficient.
With only eight regular-season games slated to take place in Brubaker Auditorium for the 2008-2009 season, the Messiah men's basketball team continued to make the most of its limited home appearances, rattling off its fifth straight MAC Commonwealth home win in a 75-65 decision over Lebanon Valley College Saturday. Junior Jamie Yoder broke a 61-61 tie with a clutch three ball at the 3:09 mark, as the Falcons scored 14 of the game's final 18 points to seal the victory.
The win helps Messiah's push to secure not only a place, but a possible home game in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Playoffs, as the Falcons' 5-4 league mark has them settled into third place within the league standings.
“We had guys step up and make plays today,” said Rick Van Pelt, Messiah head coach. “That's what you have to have if you want to win league games down the homestretch.”
For Messiah (8-14, 5-4), it also apparently helps to be playing in front of familiar fans, as all four of the team's league defeats have come on the road. Looking to avenge a 63-72 loss at Lebanon Valley on Jan. 17, the Falcons rode the strength of Saturday's announced crowd of 1,042 in the early goings, taking a quick, 9-4 lead in the first four minutes of play. A back-and-forth battle ensued, as the teams traded leads nine times in the first 20 minutes, tying the score on five occasions.
The final lead change of the half proved to be the most dramatic, however, as a pair of free throws from sophomore Josh Hartman trimmed a 30-26 LVC lead to 30-28 with just 20 seconds remaining. Following a defensive stop on the Dutchmen's next possession, junior Andy Hawk fired a long pass to freshman Danny Wrigley, who was leaking out down the right side of the court.
With just tenths of a second remaining on the game clock, Wrigley caught Hawk's pass 30 feet from the basket on the left wing and hoisted a highly-contested jumper only nano-seconds before the horn sounded.
His shot hit the backboard and banked in, giving Messiah a 31-30 lead at the break and sending Brubaker Auditorium rocking.
“I don't know how big that prayer that we threw in was for us, but it seemed to help us from a confidence standpoint,” Van Pelt said. “I thought in the first half, we weren't competing with the intensity that we needed for a game of this magnitude. We weren't getting on the floor for loose balls the way we should, and it was frustrating. We ripped into them a bit at halftime, and I was pleased with how we responded in the second half.”
Messiah's newfound fortitude was evident almost immediately, as Van Pelt's team responded with three straight buckets to offset an LVC layup — resulting in a 38-32 advantage just three minutes into the second half.
And while Lebanon Valley (10-11, 3-6) would not go away, Messiah seemed to have answers for every push the visitors made. The Dutchmen tied the game 48-48 with 9:49 to play, but a layup from senior Jason Miller and a three ball from Hawk regained a 53-48 Falcons' lead. A driving layup — plus a foul — from Hartman got Van Pelt visibly excited at the 6:34 mark, as the traditional three-point play made it a 58-52 ballgame.
LVC would provide its final surge in response, converting a three-point play of its own on its next trip. Yoder was able to make just one of two foul shots on Messiah's' next possession, and Lebanon Valley sharpshooter Kyle Enoch buried a three to make the score 59-58, Falcons, with 5:03 to go.
Junior Kyle Snyder was able to knock in two free throws on Messiah's next trip, but Enoch was at it again just seconds later, this time burying a ridiculous, hand-in-his-face long ball from the left wing.
That shot silenced the crowd, tying the score for the eighth time of the afternoon — 61-61 with 4:25 to play.
With the game up for grabs, it would be Van Pelt's crew who would get it done both offensively and defensively.
Following a turnover on their next possession, the Falcons forced a pair of misses on LVC's next trip, responding with arguably the biggest shot of the game at the 3:09 mark. Yoder came off a screen to bury a wide-open trey on the left side, shot clock running down. Messiah then forced a turnover on Lebanon Valley's next possession, and sophomore Colton Reitz followed with a strong layup off a dump off from Yoder.
A pair of empty trips for both teams finally resulted in two more made free throws for Messiah — courtesy of Miller at the 1:50 mark — and the Falcons led 68-61. Lebanon Valley would cut the lead to five points on two occasions, but a strong finish at the rim from Snyder and five free throw makes out of six attempts kept Messiah ahead, eventually resulting in the hosts' largest lead of the day for the final score.
Reitz led the scoring charge for Messiah, scoring 13 points on six of nine shooting in 21 minutes of action. Miller scored 12 points in going six for six at the charity stripe, while Yoder added 11. Hawk tallied his sixth double-double of the year — and 10th of his career — with 10 points and 10 boards. Snyder narrowly missed out on what would have been his second double-double of the season, scoring nine points while grabbing 10 rebounds.
The hard-nosed guard was palpably close to the statistical benchmark, as his only miss in eight free throw attempts came on his final effort — with just 24 seconds on the clock.
“The thing I was most pleased with was not that we just made shots when we needed to, but that we really competed for this thing down the stretch,” Van Pelt said. “We had guys diving on the floor for loose basketballs ... the effort was just better than it was in the first half.”
Messiah converted on half of its 50 total shots from the floor, just the fourth time this season the squad shot at a 50 percent or better clip. The squad made more free throws (18 of 21) than its opponent attempted (LVC finished 10 of 15) for the seventh time this year, while it was the fifth occasion in the last six games that the Falcons placed at least four players in double-figure scoring.
Van Pelt's team will now take a full week off, receiving the mid-week conference bye. The team will begin a two-game league road swing next Saturday, traveling to Albright College for a 4 p.m. tip off.
“We've got a tough three-game stretch to close,” Van Pelt said. “We have our work cut out for us, no questions about it. But we'll use this week to refresh mentally. This past three-game week was rough, not just physically, but mentally. You go from playing to preparing to playing to preparing. It wears on you. This (upcoming) week will allow us to put some new things in and really focus on our own stuff. We'll then prepare hard for Albright and go from there.”
