Frederick, MD – On Wednesday night, the Messiah men's basketball fell to the Hood College Blazers 76-52. The loss drops the Falcons to 4-11 on the season and 1-5 in the MAC Commonwealth.
 
Messiah struggled to get the offense going throughout the contest, shooting just 27.9% (19 of 68) from the floor and 20.0% (7 of 35) from beyond the arc in the loss. Messiah's 35 three-point attempts are the most in a single game in head coach, Rick Van Pelt's tenure (13 seasons). On the other end of the floor, the Blazers shot 52.8% (28 of 52) from the field and an impressive 69.2% (9 of 13) from downtown.
 
Logan Long led the Falcons with 14 points and six rebounds.
 
The Falcons jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after a three-pointer by Matt Hess on the first possession of the game and a quick layup by Geoff Boyle on the second. The Blazers then went on a 16-4 run over the next 5:27 to stake a seven-point, 16-9 lead.
 
 At the midpoint of the first-half, Hood led by nine after Davon Hill drained a three to make it a 24-15 game. The Falcons countered with 6-0 run to cut the deficit to three. Neil Murren almost solely fueled the run with five of the six points, including a three with 9:19 remaining in the half. However, the three-point deficit was as close as the Falcons would get in the half. Hood pushed their lead to as many as nine, at 36-27, with 1:09 remaining in the half. Logan Long cut the lead to seven with a jumper in the final minute of the half. At the intermission, the Blazers led the Falcons 36-29.
 
After the break, Hood made a jumper and two quick layups to push their lead to 13-points. Less than three minutes into the half, Neil Murren and Matt Hess each hit threes to give the Falcons their first points of the half. Hess' three cut the lead to 10 at 45-35, but the Blazers responded with an 11-0 run over the next 3:28 to balloon the Hood lead to 21.
 
The 11-0 run crippled the Falcons. Messiah could not close the gap to less than 18 points over the final 13:25.
 
Hood held their largest lead of the game, 28 points, at 76-48 with 32 seconds left before a pair of free throws from Garret McHenry and a layup from David Stecz gave the contest a final score of 76-52.
 
As mentioned, Messiah falls to 4-11 on the season and 1-5 in the conference with the loss. The Falcons will next take the floor on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. when the Widener Pride travel to Grantham.