Chester, PA – The Messiah Falcons dropped a 69-55 contest against the Widener Pride on Saturday afternoon. Widener ended the game on a 21-10 run over the final ten minutes to pull away for the victory.
BJ McHenry led Messiah with 15 points three double-digit scorers in the loss.
Josh Clippinger opened the scoring for the Falcons scoring Messiah's first four points. The Falcons jumped out to an early 6-2 lead and held a lead for the first 7:37 of the game until a layup by Widener's Sardayah Sambo gave the Pride their first lead of the game at 12-11.
Sambo's bucket started a 13-6 run that lasted the next 7:18 to take a 23-17 lead – their largest of the half. Messiah countered, quickly cutting the deficit to two with a three by
BJ McHenry and a free throw by Clippinger.
With the gap closed to 23-21, the Pride connected on two three-pointers sandwiched around a three from
Neil Murren to push the lead to 29-24. Clippinger closed the half with a jumper off a pass from
Matt Hess to bring Messiah within three, 29-26 at the break.
After the intermission, Widener opened the half on an 11-3 run over the first 4:39 to take an 11-point lead. The only points for Messiah during that stretch was a three-point play by Garrett McHenry 3:06 into the half.
After Widener opened a double-digit lead, Messiah countered with an 11-2 run over the next 3:31 to climb within two at 42-40. Threes from
Neil Murren,
Matt Hess, and
BJ McHenry paced the run for the Falcons. Messiah continued to remain close over the next five minutes, eventually cutting the Pride lead to one at 49-48 and again at 51-50. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they could not seem to come up with the basket to tie the game or pull ahead.
With under three minutes, Messiah trailed 57-55 before an 11-0 run for the Pride closed out the game and gave Widener a 68-55 victory.
As mentioned,
BJ McHenry led the Falcons with 15 points. Josh Clipinger (13 points) and
Neil Murren (11) joined McHenry in double figures. Clippinger and
Garret McHenry each pulled down eight rebounds to lead Messiah.
The loss drops the Falcons to 6-17 on the season and 3-11 in the MAC Commonwealth. Messiah will next take the floor on Tuesday evening at 8:00 p.m. when they host Lebanon Valley in the annual White Out game hosted by eyas.