Glenside, PA - Arcadia University used a 19-3 run during the last six minutes of play to hand Messiah men's basketball a tough road loss by a score of 72-67.
 
Matt Hess led the Falcons with 14 points, six assists, and one steal, and Logan Long chipped in 10 points, four rebounds, and two steals. The Falcons shot better from beyond the arc than they did from the field, 40% (12 of 30) compared to 35.3% (24-68). The Knights outrebounded Messiah by a 41-32 margin, and outscored the Falcons 34-16 in the paint.
 
Messiah got off to a slow start offensively, falling behind 15-9 after after eight minutes. The Falcons would put together an 8-0 run, with Hess knocking down a triple and Colin Sareyka blowing by the defense for a layup and hitting a three with a hand in his face to take a 17-15 lead at the 9:48 mark.
 
A Ryan Kelly layup tied the game for the Knights, but Josh Clippinger answered right back with a smooth turnaround jumper from the left baseline to regain the two-point advantage. Arcadia would go on a small 7-4 run to take a 26-23 lead at the 5:42 mark, but Clippinger responded with an old-fashioned three-point play and BJ McHenry added a put-back to swing the lead back to the Falcons, 28-26.
 
However, Arcadia closed out the last four and a half minutes of the first-half on a 13-3 run to take a 39-31 lead into the break. The Falcons only shot 36.4% (12 of 33) in the opening period, compared to 58.6% (17 of 29) for the Knights. Hess led Messiah with nine points, two boards, and one assist in the half.
 
The Falcons started the second-half very strong, with Murren knocking down a triple and then grabbing the rebound on the next Knight possession and sending the long outlet pass downcourt to Long for a contested layup to cut the Arcadia lead to three.
 
With Messiah down by four five minutes into the second period, the Falcons caught fire from deep, making their next five in a row. Sareyka started the streak with an open three from the top of the key, and Eberle sank back-to-back triples from the same spot above the left elbow to take a 49-45 lead at the 12:21 mark. After a steal by Rob McWilliams, it was Hess's turn to hit from downtown, taking the Eberle pass from inside the paint and connecting to make it 52-45 with 12:08 remaining.
 
Eberle would score again on the next possession, this time on a layup off a driving pass from Long. After a missed Knight layup and Sareyka rebound, the freshman forward returned the favor, dishing the ball out to Long for a wide-open three from straightaway to cap a 26-8 run to open the second-half, making the score 57-47 at the 9:46 mark.
 
The Falcons took their biggest lead of the game of 11 (64-53) on a pair of free throws from Hess with 6:30 left on the clock. However, the Knights would then go on a 19-3 to close out the game. Brandon Thompson hit a three-pointer to cut the Messiah lead to 67-66 with two minutes left, followed by Ryan Kelley stealing the ball at midcourt and getting fouled on a breakaway layup, sinking both free throws to take a one-point lead.
 
On the ensuing Falcon possession, Hess was knocked to the ground with no call on a driving layup, and after a Messiah foul and two made free throws from Josh Scott, the Falcons had one more chance with nine seconds left to tie with a three. However, the inbounds pass was stolen by Kyle Reilly, and he made a pair of free throws to end the Messiah hopes and give Arcadia a 72-67 victory.
 
Messiah falls to 2-4 on the season, and looks to get back on track on Saturday as they host Alvernia University at 5:00 p.m.