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Grantham, PA - No matter the opponent, the atmosphere, or the attendance, the Falcons just keep on winning.
Playing in front of a smaller, albeit respectable, crowd on the final day of Messiah's January-term academic schedule, the Falcons collected a 71-57 victory over Alvernia Universit. The win marked their eighth consecutive victory.
"It's exciting to get this win because I think Alvernia is an extremely well-coached team," said Messiah head coach
Rick Van Pelt. "I think they've got a lot of really good pieces so they present a challenge to stop. I thought our guys just did a great job defensively tonight. We tweaked some things in our game plan, made some adjustments, and they executed those things pretty well. Fortunately, they worked."
At the beginning, it wsa Alvernia who sezied control. After the Falcons led 5-3, Alernia scored nine in a row to take a 12-5 lead five minutes into the game. But the Falcons rallied back, eventually tying the game at 16 midway through the first half.
A rare three pointer by senior
Jeremiah Runkle gave Messiah a 19-16 lead, and additional three pointers from freshman Zach Hoy and junior
Derek Mosley kept Messiah on top, 27-20. The Falcons didn't allow a basket over the final five minutes of the first half and entered halftime with a 33-25 lead.
The start to the second half was a back-and-forth affair for both teams, which at the very least allowed Messiah to hold onto a small lead. After few minutes, the Falcons pulled away by scoring nine points in a row to stretch a 42-35 lead into a 51-35 lead.
The Falcons increased their lead to 60-45 with seven minutes before Alvernia scored seven of the game's next nine points to cut the deficit to 62-52 with 5:41 remaining. However, any hope for the Crusaders' comeback was lost when sophomore
Taylor Groff knocked down a pair of three pointers in just over a minute, extending Messiah's lead to 68-52 and essentially sealing the satisfying victory.
The final score, 71-57, marked the eighth straight victory for the men's team. With Lycoming's loss to Elizabethtown, the Falcons find themselves alone in 1st place in the Commonwealth with a 6-1 record.
Wednesday's win was earned on defense, as the Falcons held Alvernia to just 17-55 shooting (30.9 percent).
"(Alvernia's) Cory Boone was 0 for 7, and a real big key for us was taking him out of the game," said Van Pelt. "Josh Vargas had only five points, and that was huge for us. They had a couple of threes from players who don't typically shoot the three very well, but overall our defense was pretty solid."
Messiah shot 25-53 (47.2 percent), including 13-26 (50 percent) in the second half. They connected on 8-15 three pointers, winning both the rebounding battle (40 to 30), and turnover battle (12 to 18) against Alvernia.
"We only turned it over 12 times, which we thought was real key in this game," said Van Pelt. "They're athletic and they're real good in transition. Not allowing them to get out and run was a big reason why we won."
The Falcons were led on offense by sophomore
Brad Bolen, who poured in 16 points in 23 minutes off the bench. Bolen made 6 of his team-leading 13 shots, and added six boards and three steals. Senior
Jeremiah Runkle scored 15 points, including an impressive 8-10 on foul shots. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double. Junior
Derek Mosley scored 14 points, including two buckets from downtown, while sophomores
David Fernandez and
Taylor Groff scored nine and eight points, respectively.
"Tonight was a good game, in terms of confidence," said Van Pelt. "I think our guys felt like this was a really good opponent, and we executed with good effectiveness. It was similar to the two games down in Florida (over Christmas break). We just felt like we executed our stuff and it worked perfectly. I believe our guys have a healthy respect for their opponent, and we need to keep that respect intact."
The first-place Falcons will take on Albright College in Reading on Saturday, January 28, at 4:00 p.m. Just two weeks ago, the Falcons earned a
hard-fought, 60-57 victory in Grantham.
