Box Score
Williamsport, PA – Messiah College failed to overcome an early, first-half deficit to Lycoming on Friday, falling to the Warriors 70-54 in their second-consecutive conference defeat. The loss drops Messiah to an even 4-4 this season, including a 3-2 record in the Commonwealth.
The game included similar patterns to
last week's loss to Albright, including a double-digit first-half deficit and a Falcons' second-half push that proved to be too little, too late.
On Friday, Messiah trailed Lycoming 11-10 with just over 13 minutes remaining before halftime. Over the next six minutes, however, they fell victim to a Warriors' run that saw the hosts take a 27-14 lead.
Messiah closed the gap by a few points before halftime, as Lycoming took a 32-22 lead through intermission.
Like the aforementioned loss to Albright, Messiah came out in the second-half with renewed purpose and energy. Against Lycoming, Messiah stormed back to within 43-40 with 11:06 left to play. Freshman
Geoff Boyle took advantage of his time on the floor, scoring the Falcons' last two buckets to bring Messiah to within three points.
But to the chagrin of the Falcons and their fans, Messiah would get no closer. The Warriors, behind the strong play of guard Anthony Martin, scored 12 of the game's next 15 points to take a 55-45 lead with less than eight minutes on the clock.
Messiah could do no better than trade baskets with Lycoming from that point forward, as the Warriors moved to a perfect 5-0 in the conference.
Martin led the Warriors with a game-high 20 points, with Jerald Williams and William Wingate each adding 10 points.
Messiah was led in scoring by the 13 points of
Derek Mosley, with
Taylor Groff and
Brad Bolen scoring 10 and 11 points, respectively. Groff grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for a double-double.
The Falcons shot just 28% from the floor in the first-half, finishing just 33% overall for the game. Though they forced Lycoming into just 2-12 shooting from three-point range, the Warriors shot 43% from the entire field while collecting 32 of their 70 total points in the paint.
The loss confirmed Messiah's second two-game losing streak this season, as they failed to tie Lycoming atop the conference standings. The Falcons hope a little sunshine will fix their woes—especially their first-half slow starts—as they will fly to Miami, Fla., for two games in the annual Miami Adidas Slam. The Falcons will start the tournament with a match-up against Medaille College on Dec. 21 at 7:00 p.m.
