Owings Mills, MD – The Messiah men's basketball fell to the Stevenson Mustangs on Thursday night 71-68 in their first action in over a week. Messiah had a chance at the buzzer but two three-point attempts were off the mark and the Falcons fell in heart-breaking fashion.
 
Josh Clippinger lead three Falcons in double-digits with 19 points. Neil Murren added 13 points on a 5-6 effort from the field, while Jimmy Brackett chimed in with 12 points in the losing effort.
 
Entering Thursday's game the Mustangs were the second-worst three-point shooting team in Division III (68-266, 25.6%), but you wouldn't have known it watching the first couple minutes tonight's contest. The Mustangs came out firing and made their first three three-point attempts in the opening 1:36 to jump out to an early 9-4 lead.
 
After falling in an early hole Messiah had opportunities to stay in the game, but missed layups plagued the Falcons as Stevenson grew their lead to as many as 11 points 7:16 into the game. Then the Falcons used a quick 7-0 run to close the gap to four-points with 10 minutes left in the half.
 
Josh Clippinger started the run for the Falcons with a layup off a pass from Neil Murren. Murren then hit a three after a missed jumper by the Mustangs. Just seconds later, Logan Long tipped away a pass from Sean Mayberry. Long collected the ball and took it the other way for an easy layup bringing the Falcons within four at 20-16.
 
After the Falcons' run, Stevenson's Christian Roberts took over and scored the game's next five points to spark an 8-2 run to build the Mustang lead to double-digits. Roberts scored all eight of the Mustangs' points on the run including a three to end the run. When Roberts' run ended the Mustangs led 28-18 with 8:01 left in the half.
 
Messiah then went on a run of their own across the next six minutes to tie the game at 31-31. Four different Falcons scored on the Falcons' 13-3 run. Willie Hope and Logan Long each had two, Neil Murren hit a three to start the run, and Josh Clippinger led the way with six points including the last four of the run.
 
Neither team scored in the final two minutes of the half and the game remained tied heading to the break.
 
After the break the Falcons jumped out to a 42-36 lead just over four minutes into the half. Clippinger picked up right where he left off in the first-half making a layup to start the second period for the Falcons. Jimmy Brackett chimed in with a dunk from the right baseline before Murren made a pair of layups and Luke Cable drilled a wide-open three to push the lead to six.
 
The Falcons and Mustangs then traded a pair of three's over the next few minutes. Cable and Long connected for Messiah while Christian Roberts made two for the Mustangs. After the three-point barrage the Falcons still led by six, 50-44 with 12:14 left in the game.
 
The Mustangs then went on a 10-2 run over the five minutes to take a 54-52 lead. Just seconds after the Mustangs took their first lead in over 12 minutes, Josh Clippinger drove from the left baseline and fished with a two-handed slam to tied the game at 54-54.
 
After a Stevenson layup from Erik Fisher, Jimmy Brackett took over for the Falcons.  Brackett scored the next six points for the Falcons to help Messiah keep pace with the Mustangs. With the Falcons trailing by three Josh Clippinger converted a three-point play to tie the game at 63-63 with 2:42 remaining in the game.
 
Down the stretch the Mustangs made a couple of layups and cashed in on their chances from the free throw line to build a three-point lead in the final minute. With 20 seconds left in the game and trailing by three the Falcons had the ball with a chance to tie the game. Unfortunately for Messiah two three-point attempts clanked off the rim and the Falcons fell by a 71-68 final.
 
 As mentioned, Josh Clippinger led the Falcons with 19 points. Erik Fisher's 25 points and Christian Roberts' 21 points led the Mustangs in the victory.
 
With the loss the falcons fall to 5-13 overall and 2-7 in the MAC Commonwealth. Messiah will next take the floor on Saturday when they travel to Alvernia. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.