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Grantham, PA - On senior day at Messiah College, the Falcons came up big against the Blue Jays. Messiah raced out to 38-24 lead and never looked back, earning their 12th Commonwealth victory with a 72-47 win over Elizabethtown.
Junior
Taylor Groff tied for a game-high with 13 points, with classmate
Derek Mosley scoring 10 first half points to join Groff in double-figures. Sophomore
Brad Bolen and freshman
Zac Hoy also collected 10 points apiece, with senior
Jeremiah Runkle grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.
The game started quickly for the Falcons as they raced ahead to advantages of 18-7 and 28-12. At the middle of the offensive run was junior
Derek Mosley. Mosley, l
ast week's Commonwealth Player of the Week for men's basketball, scored all 10 of his points in the first half-- including two three-pointers.
As for the seniors, the loudest cheers came for senior guard
Dwayne Allgyer who started the Messiah scoring with a three-pointer of his own. He would finish with seven points on the day in a season-high 13 minutes of action.
Fellow seniors Runkle and
Trey Ritzman would combine for 10 points and nine assists (Ritzman with six).
In the first half, the Falcons knocked down five three-pointers as they eventually took a 38-24 lead at the intermission In the second half, the contest quickly fell out of control from the visiting Blue Jays.
In the second half, the Falcons would run out to a 47-26 lead. The closest the Blue Jays would get to Messiah would be a 14-point deficit, as the Falcons would knock down another six three-pointers in the second half.
A final highlight of the night was provided by Bolen who threw down a two-handed dunk off a pass from Runkle.
"It's great to be able to get this win, especially on a special day like this," said Messiah men's basketball coach
Rick Van Pelt, commenting on the senior day activities. "We have a lot of respect for Elizabethtown's program, so playing as well as we did today is also pretty exciting."
With the win, Messiah moves to 18-6 including 12-2 in the Commonwealth. They will host the first round of the Commonwealth Championships to start on Wednesday, February 22. Visiting Grantham, Pa., that evening will be Albright College. The Falcons took both games from the Lions this year,
winning at home in early January and
at Albright just a few weeks ago.
"We've had a really good season in the Commonwealth," added Van Pelt, reflecting on his team's first-place seed in the league's postseason tournament. "Everything starts over next week, so we'll keep working hard and preparing to play our best."
Messiah's matchup with Albright is set for 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, following the conclusion on the Messiah women's basketball matchup with Widener University at 6:00 p.m.
