Grantham, PA - Messiah College trailed by just two points at the half but fell behind late in a 58-45 loss to Hood College on Wednesday night. Josh Clippinger led the Falcons with 16 points as the team dropped to 3-10 in conference, and 6-16 overall.
 
Messiah trailed 46-42 late in the frame but back-to-back buckets put Hood up 51-42 with 3:55 to play. The Falcons were unable to muster a comeback before finishing with a season-low 45 points.
 
The game started with a three by Neil Murren to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead. Hood's Ian Eversull countered with a three of his own to tie the game in the early going. After a free throw for the Blazers, Josh Clippinger made a layup to give Messiah a 5-4 lead before Hood's Tanner Ruths made a pair of layups to push the Blazer lead to 8-5 less than five minutes into the game.
 
After Ruths' layups, both teams struggled to find the bottom of the cup. Over the next 8:31 the Falcons and Blazers combined to score just five points on a 2-17 shooting effort. The two teams shot a collective 1-9 from beyond the arc during the stretch with Murren hitting the lone triple to make the game 10-8 in favor of the Blazers.
 
The scoring drought finally ended when Matt Hess hit a jumper with 6:52 remaining in the half to tie the game at 10-10. Josh Clippinger then scored the next three points on a free throw and a layup to give Messiah a 13-10 lead. The Blazers then went on a 12-4 lead to take a 22-17 with just 20 seconds remaining left in the half. Clippinger then hit a three from the corner with just five seconds on the clock to bring Messiah with a bucket at the break.
 
Coming out of halftime the Falcons trailed 22-20, but another three by Clippinger gave Messiah their lone lead of the half at 23-22. Less than two minutes later, Logan Long made a layup in transition to tie the game at 25-25. After Long's layup, the Blazers went on a 10-2 run to take an eight-point lead at 35-27. 
 
Later with the Blazers leading 39-30, Long scored five quick points on a layup and a three to cut the deficit to four-points. The Blazers then grew their lead back to eight-points with a 7-3 run to make it 46-38. Messiah would then cut the lead back to four-points with 4:56 remaining, but they could not close the gap any more. The Blazers ended the game on a 12-3 run to defeat the Falcons by a final score of 58-45.
 
Josh Clippinger scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Falcons. He was the lone Falcon to score double-digit points. He also grabbed six rebounds in the contest.
 
With the loss the Falcons drop to 6-16 overall, and 3-10 in the MAC Commonwealth. The Falcons next play on Saturday when they travel to Widener University for a game with the Pride at 3:00 p.m.