Hampden Sydney, VA - Messiah men's basketball fought and scrapped, and came as close as a single point with just 45 seconds left to play, but their rally fell just short in a 75-73 loss at Hampden-Sydney on Monday evening. The loss dropped the Falcons into the Consolation Game of the Luck Stone Holiday Tournament on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.

The Falcons trailed by 11 points with 12:21 left in the second-half at the Tigers, but they chipped away to play within one or two possessions for most of the last six minutes. With 2:10 on the clock Neil Murren hit a pair of free-throws to make it 74-70, and one minute later he another pair to draw Messiah to within 74-72. Messiah's defense continued to come up big in the final stretch as they held the Tigers without a point for nearly three minutes, and Josh Clippinger had a chance to tie the game from the charity stripe with 45 seconds to go. He missed the first and made the second to make it a one-point game, but nine seconds later Logan Samuels also went 1-2 from the line to push the Hampden-Sydney lead back to two, 75-73.

A missed three-pointer by Murren was followed by two more free-throws by Samuels, and he missed both to give Messiah one final chance to tie or take the lead, but a three-pointer from Logan Long went off the rim as time expired.
 
Clippinger finished with 19 points on 7-11 shooting and Murren added 14 points on 4-10 from the field, including 2-6 from downtown. Long worked around a rough night from the field (3-12) to chip in 11 points. For the Tigers Samuels and Gimaraes Guilherme each scored 22 points, and they did so with an impressive 17-20 combined shooting from the field.
 
The loss for Messiah was a tough blow considering they battled so hard to keep the Tigers within striking distance. The hosts led for all but 12 seconds of the game, and they built 12-point lead in the first-half. But Messiah refused to fall too far behind, and they closed the first period with an 11-4 run to draw within 41-36 at the break.

That impressive run to enter the break was started with back-to-back three's from Luke Cable and Matt Hess, and Colin Sareyka provided a highlight of his own with a three-point play with 43 seconds to play. A jumper by Rob McWilliams, who finished with a team-high seven rebounds, beat the buzzer to make it a five-point game.
 
In the second-half the Tigers again tried to pull away, and a three-pointer from Guilherme put the hosts up 55-44 with 13:58 on the clock. A few possessions later a layup by Kevin Quinn made it 57-45.
 
But just like they did in the first period, Messiah scrapped back into the game, and they started another run with buckets from downtown. This time Sareyka and Cable went back-to-back from three, and a few minutes later Long made a bucket at the rim to complete an 11-2 run that spanned 2:34.
 
Despite another streak, Messiah continued to play from behind, and it looked as though Hampden-Sydney was set to pull away late when Guilherme slammed through a lob off a backscreen to the rim to make it 69-62 with less than four minutes to play.
 
With 2:26 on the clock Samuels scored in the paint to make it 74-68, but that would be the last field goal of the game for the Tigers. They also went cold from the free-throw line as their 1-6 showing in the final minutes opened the door for Messiah's comeback. But the Falcons couldn't take full advantage, as Clippinger's only missed free-throw of the night kept Messiah from evening the score in the final minute.
 
Messiah forced 20 turnovers in a strong defensive showing, and they only turned it over 11 times themselves. That all helped them earn a 20-7 advantage in points off turnovers, but the Tigers' 34-20 edge in points in the paint and 37-24 advantage in rebounds proved to be a larger factor.