Reading, PA - Alvernia University finished the game with a 23-14 run to earn a win over Messiah College on Saturday afternon, 72-64. The loss dropped the Falcons to 2-8 in the MAC Commonwealth while Alvernia stayed atop the conference at 8-3. Neil Murren led the Falcons with 15 points and seven rebounds and Geoff Boyle added 10 points.
 
Messiah will next play on Wednesday, Feb. 3 when they travel to Lycoming College.
 
On Saturday both teams battled back and forth in the early going before the Falcons turned a 20-19 lead into a 31-24 advantage. The 11-4 run was ignited by a traditional three-point-play by Murren, who later hit a three-pointer to give the visitors the seven point lead. Alvernia fought back and did not let Messiah fly away, even as Matt Hess hit a three of his own to give Messiah a 38-30 lead with under a minute left in the half.
 
The Falcons eventually took a 38-32 lead into the break, with Murren and Alvernia's Alex Shippen each tallying nine points. The first-half was especially crisp considering the teams combined for just six turnovers. Messiah also shot an impressive 55.6% (15-27) from the field.
 
Messiah's lead was slowly chipped away in the second-half, and Alvernia jumped ahead 41-40 off a driving layup by Reid Hoff with 17:59 to play. The lead changed hands a few times over the next few minutes, with a jumper by Jimmy Brackett giving the Falcons a 50-49 advantage with 10:30 on the clock.
 
The score did not change for more than 90 seconds, but with 8:50 on the clock George Sapp his a jumper to give Alvernia a 51-50 lead. That bucket started a crippling 10-0 run that put Messiah on their heels. Six of those 10 points also came at the free-throw line as the Crusaders were intent on attacking in the paint.
 
Despite trailing by their largest deficit, Messiah fought back with an 8-0 streak of their own, with Murren, Josh Clippinger, and Logan Long all contributing points. But the effort proved futile as Alvernia went on another run, this one 9-0 from the 3:22 mark to less than a minute to play.
 
A three-pointer by Long finally put Messiah back on the board with 35 seconds to play, but that made it only 68-61. Alvernia hit four free-throws in the final seconds to seal the game.
 
Eight different Falcons scored points, with Clippinger, Long, and Jonah Meredith all scoring at least eight points. But Sapp (21 points) and Charles Cooper (20) did the heavy lifting for Alvernia, with Marquis Marshall joining them in double-figures with 10 points of his own.
 
Alvernia also capitalized at the free-throw line, going 24-28 on the afternoon. Messiah went just 4-6 at the charity stripe.
 
As mentioned the Falcons will next play at Lycoming on Feb. 3. They'll look to avenge a 74-62 loss to the Warriors from earlier this season, a game in which Messiah used a furious second-half rally to almost upend what was a dominating first-half showing by Lycoming.