Orlando, FL - On Tuesday evening the Messiah College men's basketball team dropped a close 57-56 contest to the Beloit College Buccaneers in Orlando, Fla. A poor shooting night plagued the Falcons, as Messiah shot just 34.4% from the floor (21-62). Matt Hess hit a three at the buzzer, but it wasn't enough as the Falcons fell by one.
 
Luke Cable scored all of his ten points in the second-half to lead the Falcons. Geoff Boyle pulled down 11 rebounds to lead Messiah's effort on the glass.
 
For Beloit, Steve McAfee collected an impressive double-double with 13 points and 17 rebounds. Andrew Bremmer led Beloit with 15 points in the victory.

The Falcons struggled to get in a rhythm to begin the game, missing their first ten shots. With Beloit leading 8-0, Neil Murren broke the scoreless drought with a layup 5:41 into the contest. Murren's layup started a 23-6 run that gave the Falcons a nine-point lead – their largest of the game – at 23-14. During the run seven different Falcons scored. Logan Long led the way with five points including a three to cap off the run.
 
The tide turned in favor of the Buccaneers when Steve McAfee finished a layup to cut the Messiah lead to seven-points. Like Murren's layup early in the half for the Falcons, McAfee's bucket started a large run in favor of the Buccaneers. Over the next 14 minutes the Falcons were outscored 20-6. During that stretch Messiah committed eight turnovers and shot just 2-19 from the field. When the dust settled Beloit held a 36-29 lead with 12:37 remaining in regulation.
 
The Beloit lead held steady between seven and three points for the next 12 minutes until the final minute of regulation. With 50 seconds left the Buccaneers led by seven after a pair of free throws from Rudy Bentley. Eight seconds later, Neil Murren made a three to cut the lead to four. Beloit's Andrew Bremner and Messiah's Jimmy Brackett each made a pair of free throws to keep it a four-point game. Beloit then opened the door for the Falcons with 22 seconds left when they missed the front-end of a one-and-one.
 
With the ball and down by four, Messiah missed their first two three-point attempts before a third attempt from Matt Hess went in at the buzzer. Unfortunetely for the Falcons, it was too little too late and Messiah fell by a final score of 57-56.
 
With the loss the Falcons drop their sixth-straight game and move to 3-8 on the season. Messiah will next take the court tomorrow evening when they square off with the No. 4-ranked Hope College Flying Dutchmen at 8:00 p.m. in Orlando, Fla.