Box Score
Glenside, PA — Despite the second round of regular-season Commonwealth Conference play still a week away, Messiah head coach
Rick Van Pelt was fast-forwarding his team's sense of urgency.
Calling Saturday's game at league foe Arcadia University a game Messiah had 'to get,' the Falcons responded accordingly, leading from start to finish in a 64-55 decision at the Knights' Kuch Center.
Facing the daunting possibility of dropping to 2-5 in the conference standings — and an uphill battle to qualify for the four-team, post-season tournament — Messiah used a 57.7 percent shooting clip in the first period to claim a 35-28 lead at the half, preventing a loss from occurring. The squad canned 10 of 11 second-half foul shots to keep Arcadia at bay, pushing its league mark to 3-4 at the midway point of the C'Wealth slate.
“We were looking at this game as one we really thought we had to have,” Van Pelt said Saturday. “Arcadia has proven to be a tough opponent, as they have played many teams in our league extremely close. This was a needed win in a lot of ways. It was a good way to finish out the first round of league play.”
Back-to-back layups from freshman David Fernandez got Messiah (8-9, 3-4) rolling early, while jumpers from sophomore Chris Yoder and senior Tyler Ritzman made it an 8-2 game just three minutes in.
Arcadia (4-12, 0-7) would trail by as many as eight points over the next six minutes of action, but an eight to nothing run midway through the period helped cut the Falcons' lead to just 20-19 with 9:10 to go.
A jumper from freshman Brad Bolen and a post bucket from junior Jeremiah Runkle regained a 24-19 lead just moments later, however, while an impressive stretch from Runkle helped Messiah open up a nine-point lead late: After Bolen missed a jump shot with 3:09 to go in the period, Runkle corralled the offensive board and scored the putback. Following a defensive stop (and another Runkle rebound), Bolen found the junior transfer in the paint, and Runkle hit a nifty scoop shot to put Messiah up 35-26.
“Jeremiah really worked hard and was very effective on the glass all afternoon long,” Van Pelt said.
Runkle would go on to secure his second double-double in a Messiah uniform, but not before Arcadia would fight to make things close down the stretch. Van Pelt's club led by as many as 11 points on three different occasions — the last coming off a Fernandez score with 8:49 to play — but the Knights would push back. Following Fernandez's bucket, Arcadia scored 11 of the game's next 13 points, pulling to a 51-53 deficit with just 4:19 remaining.
Fortunately, Runkle came up big yet again for the visitors.
The Tillamok, Oregon native took a feed from sophomore Mike Shaker and canned a baseline runner, being fouled in the process. He finished the traditional three-point play, helping Messiah regain a 56-51 lead.
The advantage would never dip below that difference again, as the Falcons canned six free throws in the final 42 seconds to coast to the important win.
Runkle scored a career-high 17 points along with securing 10 rebounds to lead the way for Messiah. Yoder knocked in five of nine shots from the floor en rotue to 14 points. Fernandez scored nine and Bolen eight, while eight different Falcons scored.
Arcadia's 55 points were the fewest an opponent had scored since Messiah's 83-53 win over Centenary College on New Year's Eve, while the Falcons finally made as many free throws as their opponent attempted — a feat the team hadn't notched since Messiah's 70-67 win over Lycoming College Dec. 1, when the Falcons made 11 freebies to allowing just eight attempts for the Warriors.
“We shot the ball very well in the first half and that allowed us to play with a lead instead of scrambling to get back in the game,” Van Pelt said. “I thought we had a little better balance offensively. We were able to get some interior scoring and also did a better job at getting to the foul line and scoring when we got there. We had a solid team effort at the defensive end and we did a good job of rebounding and finishing possessions.”
Messiah will utilize the league's idle mid-week date as an opportunity to travel to Eastern University Wednesday. The Eagles — holders of an 11-5 record — fell to the Falcons by a 73-65 count in last year's season-opener in Brubaker Auditorium. Wednesday's game time is set for 7 p.m.
“We're looking at Wednesday's game as another opportunity to get better,” Van Pelt said. “We hope to continue to improve this week and be ready to get off to a good start to the second half (of league play) on Saturday.”
