Grantham, PA — An announced crowd of only 309 showed up Thursday night to bid farewell to Messiah seniors
Jamie Yoder and
Kyle Snyder.
The paltry attendance didn't seem to bother the tandem one bit.
Snyder scored a career-high 19 points and Yoder chipped in 18 to lead the Falcons to a 79-66 win over visiting Lebanon Valley College, earning Messiah a berth in next week's four-team Commonwealth Conference Tournament as a result.
With just one regular-season game remaining — a tilt at league-leading Albright College Saturday afternoon — the Falcons are now assured no worse than a fourth-place finish in the final conference standings.
“It's good to be in (the post-season),” Messiah head coach Rick Van Pelt said late Thursday evening. “That's obviously where we want to be, and it was good to take care of business tonight.”
Snyder and Yoder were key components in that feat, even if a raucous crowd was not. Facing Lebanon Valley in a make-up game following the Feb. 10th mid-Atlantic blizzard, Thursday's announced attendance was the smallest to take in a men's basketball game in Brubaker Auditorium this calendar year.
“I was disappointed in the turnout,” Van Pelt said. “There was just no energy. Our women's (basketball) team was playing a make-up game on the road, Messiah has night classes on Thursdays, this wasn't an originally-scheduled game … there were plenty of reasons for it. But for Jamie and Kyle to be playing on their senior night in front of this crowd, it was embarrassing.”
He paused.
“But I tell you what, if there's anyone that it wouldn't affect, it's Jamie and Kyle. It's competition. It doesn't matter if we're playing in a completely empty gym. They're going to compete.”
Snyder and Yoder did just that, combining with junior Tyler Ritzman — who had a career-high 18 points of his own — to score nearly 70 percent of the Falcons' total points.
Clutch shooting was a key to initiating an early lead, as Ritzman came off the bench to catch fire scoring the basketball. Following an extremely slow start from Messiah — Lebanon Valley had a 17-8 lead seven minutes in — it was Ritzman that anchored a push, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the opening 20 minutes.
His first of three first-half triples pulled Messiah (15-8, 8-5) to within a 22-19 difference with 8:54 to play, while a buzzer-beating 25-foot pull up made it a 39-29 Messiah lead at the break.
Ritzman cashed in on six of seven first-half shot attempts — including a perfect three-for-three effort from beyond the arc — as Messiah closed the period on a 23-7 run, knocking in 13 of 22 shots overall (59.1 percent).
“We shot the ball well tonight, and that's always a big thing for us,” Van Pelt said. “But I thought we defended extremely well, and that allowed us to build a lead instead of staying even.”
The Falcons' sizzling shooting clip would falter only slightly in the second half — eight of 19, 42.1 percent — but a 21 for 25 second-half performance from the free throw line helped maintain a Messiah lead throughout. Lebanon Valley (10-4, 6-7) pulled within a four-point difference on three different occasions in the final period, but could get no closer.
A driving layup from Snyder erased the game's final four-point discrepancy with 2:27 to play, turning a 65-61 Falcons' advantage into a 67-61 lead.
That bucket was Messiah's last from the field, as the hosts canned 12 of 14 free throws over the final two minutes to eventually open up the final, 13-point margin — the biggest lead of the game for either squad.
On the evening, the Falcons made 27 of 31 total foul shots (87.1 percent), the team's most makes and attempts since a ridiculous 36 of 46 effort at Medgar Evers College back on Dec. 29.
Messiah also outrebounded LVC by a 36-16 difference Thursday night, the team's largest advantage on the glass in any game this season.
“It was good to see us get to the foul line like we did, and then make as many as we did,” Van Pelt said. “We did a nice job on the boards, but really there weren't that many rebounds for Lebanon Valley to get. We only took 41 shots (from the floor) and made a ton of free throws. I was impressed with our work on the defensive glass, though. To hold Lebanon Valley to just five offensive rebounds was very good.”
Snyder scored his career high off a five for six effort from the floor and a seven of nine performance from the foul line, including going two for three from deep. Yoder knocked in just three field goals but went a perfect 10 for 10 from the charity stripe, while Ritzman finished a sizzling seven of eight from the field and four of four from downtown.
LVC sophomore Joe Meehan scored a game-high 20 points to lead five Dutchmen in double-figures. It was the first time Messiah allowed an opponent such offensive delegation on the season.
Prior to the game, Messiah honored Yoder, Snyder and senior statistician Meryem Akram with a brief ceremony, thanking the threesome for their dedication, effort and commitment.
The squad now looks forward to its final regular-season contest at Albright on Saturday, while a number of post-season scenarios still exist: A Messiah win would clinch the number three seed in the upcoming conference tournament, while a loss would place the Falcons in either third or fourth, depending on the outcomes of Saturday's other league games.
As far as Van Pelt is concerned, it's no longer a big deal.
“We gotta play whoever we line up with,” he said. “There will be four good teams in next week's conference tournament. We're just happy to be one of them.”
Messiah will close out its regular-season schedule with a 4 p.m. tip-off at Albright's George C. Bollman Center Saturday. The Falcons will then be on the road next Wednesday evening in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament Semi-Finals against an opponent and at a time yet to be determined.
