Grantham, PA - Messiah College fell behind early and could not catch up in a 74-66 loss to New Jersey City on Saturday afternoon. The loss was the Falcons' second in as many days.
 
The Gothic Knights led 31-25 at the half, and they played for much of the last period with a double-digit lead. Messiah cut their deficit to four points with 21 seconds to play, but Jersey City hit four free-throws in the final seconds to seal the win.
 
Luke Cable led the Falcons with 15 points, and both Neil Murren and Jonah Meredith scored 14 points, respectively.
 
Messiah started the game with a three by Jonah Meredith and a layup by Geoff Boyle in the opening moments to take a quick 5-0 lead. That early lead evaporated thanks to an 11-3 run in favor of New Jersey City, on the run four-different players scored and the Gothic Knights took a three-point lead six minutes into the contest.
 
Messiah responded with a quick 5-0 run to take a 13-11 lead midway through the half. Unfortunately for Messiah, it was their last lead of the contest. The next few minutes were a back and forth battle between the two teams with neither team taking control. Then with 6:25 remaining in the half James Julius hit threes on back-to-back possessions and pushed the Gothic Knights' lead from 20-17 to 26-17 in just 45 seconds.
 
New Jersey City held a six-point edge at half-time leading Messiah 31-25.
 
After the break, the Gothic Knights quickly pushed their lead to double-digits with two fastbreak layups, one by Ata Robinson and another Jalen Harris just two minutes into the half.
 
The Falcons tried throughout the half to chip into the deficit. With 16:31 remaining in regulation, Jimmy Brackett put back a Geoff Boyle miss to cut the Gothic Knights lead to eight.
 
After Brackett's layup, New Jersey City went on a 9-2 run to push their lead to their largest of the game at 15-points. However, a quick seven-point burst kept the Falcons in the game. On the 90-second run Neil Murren hit a three, Jonah Meredith made a layup, and Jimmy Brackett finished a layup to bring Messiah within eight.
 
The Gothic Knights would counter and extend their lead to 14 before eventually leading 66-55 with under a minute to play. Across the final 45 seconds the two teams combined to score 19 points. As mentioned, Messiah cut the lead to four-points with 21 seconds left, but it was too little too late as four free throws by Ata Robinson pushed the final deficit to 74-66.
 
In that final minute, Neil Murren led the Falcons with six points.
 
Luke Cable led the Falcons in the contest with 15 points. Both Murren and Jonah Meredith scored 14 in the loosing effort.
 
With the loss the Falcons fall to 2-2 on the season while New Jersey City improves to 1-2.
 
Messiah will next take the floor on Tuesday when they host York College. Game time set for 7:00 p.m. in Brubaker Auditorium.