By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — After a tough,
five-point loss Wednesday night at Lycoming College, Messiah's first-half defense and second-half offense was enough for a 71-60 win over Alvernia University Saturday, keeping the Falcons alive in the continual fight for post-season life in the Commonwealth Conference.
Messiah (9-5, 2-3) stood strong against an early first-half deficit and then relied on a 54 percent field goal shooting clip in the second period to come away with the crucial league win — the team's second at Brubaker Auditorium in as many tries.
The Falcons opened the first few minutes of Saturday's contest with a solid defensive effort, holding Alvernia (11-4, 3-2) to just three points in the first five minutes. But in the following two minutes of play, AU battled back to tie the game 9-9 with 13:42 left in the first half.
The Crusaders then made a highly intense offensive charge, using a 13-0 run to build a 21-9 lead with nine minutes to go in the half. After top scoring senior center Nick Rivera (17.8 ppg) left the game due to picking up two early fouls, sophomore guard Ted Gillis and junior guard Seth Cornell picked up the pace both defensively and offensively.
“(Gillis, Cornell, and Rivera) are their best three guys,” Messiah head coach Rick Van Pelt said. “Those three are some of the top players in the league and we got fortunate that Rivera got a few early fouls. Gillis pressures well and is very tough on the ball.”
Gillis, a quick and long-armed guard, continuously made space for Cornell, a shooter with a good step off the ball. Cornell took charge on the run, scoring 10 points in the five-minute streak. Gillis followed with three points and two steals, but the biggest effect that Gillis and Cornell would have on the game was a challenge to junior guard Josh Hartman.
Down by 11 points, Hartman stepped up to the task, leading the offensive push back. Hartman went 3-3 from behind the arc and teammate Jamie Yoder went 4-4 from the free throw line in the waning moments of the opening period.
As a result, Messiah only trailed by a 30-29 score at the break, coming back from deficits that remained as large as 11 points in the stanza's final four minutes. In the first period, Messiah shot 37.5 percent from the field, shooting 45.5 percent from behind arc.
“(Alvernia) played pretty good defensively,” Van Pelt said. “They caused us to rush things and caused us not to do what we wanted to do. But the run at the end of the half really gave us confidence to play better in the second half.”
And confidence they had. Coming back from the intermission, Messiah went on a tear, holding on to a tight three-point lead for the initial seven minutes of the second half. Attacking the rim to create chances and foul trouble, Messiah built a seven-point lead (47-40) with 12 minutes left to play.
Then, off an inbounds play, Cornell drained a three pointer, keeping the Falcons in check, unable to open the lead even more. But Van Pelt's team kept attacking the middle, going inside to junior center Colton Reitz, where Reitz scored 10 points and grabbed six boards, moreover, slowing down the clock.
The pounding down low also fouled out Rivera with nine minutes to play in the game, virtually freeing up the middle in the Crusader defense. But even when things got tight for the Falcons during a one-game (51-50) with six minutes to play, it was a complete offensive efficiency for the Falcons, going five for eight from the field and 10-12 from the charity stripe in the final five minutes that sealed the win.
“We wanted to attack the inside and create good chances,” Van Pelt added. “We didn't want to take jump shots with the lead, so we kept attacking the basket. We are solid free throw shooters, up and down the roster. So we just had to take care of the basketball and defend and we were in good shape.”
Messiah finished the game shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from behind the three point line, and shot 20-22 from the free throw line — making their first 16. Alvernia shot 38.6 percent from the field, 4-18 from behind the arc, and 57 percent from the free throw line.
Hartman finished the game with a season-high 17, shooting 5-6 from behind the arc. Senior Jamie Yoder went 8-8 from the free throw line and finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three steals. Senior Kyle Snyder finished with 11 boards and eight points in a game where he only played 23 minutes due to foul trouble.
Messiah will travel to conference opponent Lebanon Valley College Wednesday, where the Falcons will see if they can keep up their offensive prowess.
“LVC is a tough team,” Van Pelt said. “They have an excellent point guard and are a quality team. It will be a tough game for us, but we will clean some things up from this game and put forth our best effort.”
Game time is set for 8 p.m. in LVC Gymnasium.
