Grantham, PA - The Messiah men's basketball team played a back and forth battle with the York Spartans on Tuesday night, coming away with the 76-71 victory. York held a lead with as little as 34 seconds left, but four Falcons' free throws and a late layup by Micah Brown gave Messiah the victory over the previously undefeated Spartans.

Messiah came out of the gates quickly thanks to a great look inside by Micah Brown. Brown found a wide-open Josh Clippinger who had boxed out his defender on the low post. Clippinger received the pass and took one step before sending home a two-handed dunk giving the Falcons an emphatic 2-0 lead early in the game.
 
While the first few seconds of the game went just as planned for the Falcons, the Spartans began to slow the pace of play down considerably. Over four and a half minutes into the game York's Dalyon Myers tied the game at 8-8 after a layup.
 
At 12-11, the Spartans took their first lead of the game after a pair of free throws by Matt Scamuffo with 13:45 remaining in the half. After Scamuffo's free throws, Jimmy Brackett and Myers traded a few buckets to tie the game up at 17-17. Just a few minutes later with the score tied 21-21, Matt Hess made two free throws for the Falcons to start a quick 9-0 run that lasted just less than two minutes and saw the Falcons take their largest lead of the first-half.
 
On the run, Neil Murren hit a three in the left corner off a pass from Hess. Then in transition, Matt Hess sent a long outlet pass to Boyle. In one motion Boyle caught and flipped a pass to Brown who finished the play and gave Messiah a seven-point lead. After a missed three by the Spartans, Josh Clippinger made a jumper from the elbow with an assist from Hess to give Messiah a 30-21 lead with 5:45 remaining in the half.
 
The Spartans ended the half on a 10-5 run to close the gap to four at the break.
 
In the first moments of the second-half, the Spartans quickly made a layup and then Matt Scamuffo hit a three to give York a 36-35 lead.
 
With York leading 39-38, a Luke Cable drained a three from right infront of the Messiah bench to jump-start an 11-0 run for the Falcons. The two and a half minute run featured threes by Cable, Brown, and Clippinger as well as two free throws by Clippinger.
 
Messiah's sharp-shooting over that stretch led them to their largest lead of the game at 49-39. Despite the double-digit lead in favor of Messiah, the Spartans would not go away. Over the next seven minutes the Spartans outscored the Falcons 24-14 to tie the game at 63-63 with less than eight minutes to play.
 
With 3:14 left in regulation, two free throws by Chris Conway gave the Spartans their first lead in almost 15 minutes at 69-68. Trailing by one, Boyle delivered the highlight of the night on a two handed slam off a bounce pass from Luke Cable.
 
After Boyle's dunk the Spartans took a one-point lead on a layup by Meyers. With 36 seconds remaining and Messiah trailing by one, Micah Brown came up with a big steal and was intentionally fouled by Mike Frauenheim from behind. Brown hit both free throws and Messiah took the lead for good. After Luke Cable hit a pair of free throws as well, Brown iced the game with a steal and a layup in transition to give Messiah a 76-71 victory over the Spartans.
 
Matt Scamuffo led all scorers with 22 points in the game, 18 of which came in the second-half.
 
Brown led eight different scorers for Messiah with 18 points. Josh Clippinger (16 points) and Geoff Boyle (15 points) joined Brown in double-figures. Clippinger also added 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
 
Messiah will next take the floor in their MAC Commonwealth opener when the Stevenson Mustangs travel to Grantham next Wednesday. Game time set for 8:00 p.m.