York, PA - The Messiah men's basketball team battled back from a late deficit to tie the game at 61 and send it to overtime, but could not win the extra period, falling to York College by a score of 73-69 on Tuesday night. Neil Murren led the Falcons with 15 points (5 of 10 fg, 4 of 8 3pt) and Josh Clippinger added 14 points and nine boards. Rob McWilliams (11) and Colin Sareyka (11) also scored in double figures for Messiah.
 
The Falcons shot 40% from the field to the Spartans' 45.3%, but outpaced York from beyond the arc, going 10-31 (32.3%) compared to 4 of 20 (20%). The free-throw line really hurt Messiah, as they only made 50% (7 of 14) of their foul shots. The Spartans also outrebounded the Falcons by a significant margin, 48-35.
 
With the loss, Messiah drops to 2-2 on the year. York improves to 3-1.
 
York got off to a great start, scoring the first eight points. A three from Clippinger got the Falcons on the board, but the Spartans' Jared Wagner hit back-to-back triples to give the home team a 14-3 lead just four minutes into the game.
 
The Falcons would claw their way back, taking a 26-25 lead with an 9-0 run that included three points from Clippinger, a three-pointer by Luke Cable, and and layup with a foul from Matt Hess.
 
However, the Spartans regained momentum, going on a 14-6 run to close out the half and take a 39-31 lead into the break.
 
Two more buckets from York just after halftime increased the margin to 12. Messiah would score the next six points, but the Spartans responded with the next eight to bring the lead to 14 with 12:11 left to play.
 
The Falcons and Spartans traded baskets over the next five minutes, ending with a three from Matt Scamuffo that made the score 58-46 at the 7:11 mark.
 
It would have been easy for Messiah to give up and concede the loss at this point, but Rob McWilliams had other plans. He got fouled on a made layup and sunk the free throw, knocked down a jumper and drilled a triple to cut the Spartan lead to four in just a matter of 90 seconds.
 
A layup by Clippinger and a free throw from Hess cut the lead to one, but Blayde Reich got a layup of his own for York to push the lead back to three at the 3:51 mark. Neither team would score over the next two and a half minutes, until Clippinger hit a jumper to make the score 60-59 with just over a minute to play.
 
Colin Sareyka fouled Jared Wagner on the ensuing possession, but Wagner only made one of the free throws, giving the Falcons a chance to tie or take the lead with a three. With 40 seconds left, Rob McWilliams hit a turnaround jumper at the top of the key to tie the game at 61 for the first time since it was even at 25. Sareyka then stole the inbounds pass from the Spartans, and head coach Rick Van Pelt called a time-out to set up a final play to try to take the come-from-behind victory. However, Sareyka's deep three hit the back iron, and the game headed to overtime.
 
Logan Long scored the first bucket of the extra period, but the Spartans tied it up again on their next possession. After a make and a miss from the charity stripe for Rob McWilliams, York hit back-to-back layups to take three-point lead. Another bucket from Long cut the advantage to one, but the Spartans answered with two layups of to take a 71-66 lead with 1:14 to play.
 
A triple from Neil Murren was not enough to overcome the late deficit, and the Falcons fell to the Spartans by a score of 73-69.
 
To go with their rebounding advantage, York also enjoyed great success in the paint, outscoring Messiah 48-22 within the key.
 
Freshman Rob McWilliams had another great all-around outing, scoring 11 points and recording three rebounds, five assists, a block, and a steal.
 
The Falcons look to get back to winning ways after Thanksgiving break when they host Lycoming College on Nov. 30 at 8:00 p.m.