Grantham, PA – The Messiah men's basketball season came to a close on Saturday evening in Brubaker Auditorium when the Falcons fell 69-62 to the visiting Arcadia Knights. Neil Murren (15 points) and Jimmy Brackett (13 points) led the way for the Falcons in an extremely tight game from start to finish.
 
Throughout the entire 40 minutes neither team led by more than seven points at a given moment. The score was tied seven different times and changed hands five times in the contest.
 
Messiah scored the first two baskets of the contest with a layup by Jimmy Brackett and a jumper by Geoff Boyle. After back-to-back three's by Arcadia's Kyle Reilly, Neil Murren made a jumper to tie the game at 6-6. The Knights then used an 8-2 run to take their largest lead of the half at 14-8.
 
The Knights continued to hold a four to six point lead for the majority of the half. Messiah cut the advantage to two points with a jumper by Matt Hess with 6:28 remaining in the first-half. Less than two minutes later Jimmy Brackett made a layup then two free throws to give Messiah a 25-23 lead with under four minutes remaining in the half. A layup by Evan Slone with 40 seconds left in the first period gave Arcadia a 30-29 lead heading into the break.
 
After the intermission the second-half felt much like the first-half did. The Knights took a four-point lead in the opening minutes of the second-half and then held a lead for the majority of the period. Messiah did tie the game briefly at 39-39 after a three by Neil Murren less than six minutes into the half, but the Knight quickly countered with a 6-1 run to take a 45-40 lead.
 
Arcadia led 54-48 with 8:29 left in regulation, but the Falcons went on a 5-0 run highlighted by an acrobatic reverse layup by Willie Hope to tie the game at 56-56.
 
After trading a layup from Josh Clippinger for a pair of Arcadia free throws the game was tied 58-58 with five minutes remaining. Arcadia's Josh Scott knocked down a pair of free throws to take the lead and the Knights never looked back. Arcadia ended the game on an 11-4 run to take the 69-62 victory. Jimmy Brackett hit a three with 20 seconds left, but the Knights made their free throws down the stretch and put the game out of reach.
 
Messiah ends the season with an overall record of 6-19, 3-13 in the MAC Commonwealth.