Reading, PA – The Messiah men's basketball team traveled to Albright and suffered a 60-48 defeat at the hands of the Lions. Messiah held a 22-21 lead at halftime but could not hold on in the second-half as the Lions scored the first eight points of the second-half and never looked back en route to the 12-point victory.
 
Neil Murren was the lone Falcon in double-digits, scoring 17 points on 7-18 shooting. Murren also led the Falcons in rebounds with seven.
 
The first-half of Saturday's contest featured the same stout defense that these teams put on display on Jan. 9, when they met for the first time. In that game the Falcons led 28-13 at the half, and while Messiah held just a one-point lead at the break today (22-21), scoring was still at a premium.
 
It didn't look like it was going to be a defensive contest through the first five minutes. Quick buckets by both sides in the first minute started a very balanced opening to the game. Messiah held a 7-5 lead after Logan Long connected on a jumper five minutes into the contest.
 
After Long's jumper the two teams struggled to find the bottom of the net. The Falcons and Lions turned the ball over four times over the next four minutes while combining to go 0-7 from the floor. Albright finally broke through with a layup and a jumper to take a 9-7 lead. After Jonah Meredith connected on a jumper with 9:01 remaining in the half to tie the game at 9-9, the Lions went on a 12-4 run to open up the largest lead of the first-half at 21-13.
 
Messiah countered with a 9-0 run over the final 2:47 of the half to take a 22-21 lead heading into the break. Long started the quick run for Messiah with a three. Josh Clippinger then completed a three-point play before Neil Murren made a three at the buzzer to give Messiah a 22-21 lead, their first lead in over 10 minutes.
 
After the half, Albright scored the first eight points and took a 29-22 lead less than four minutes into the half. After this run the Falcons would never be closer than five points the rest of the way. With 4:42 remaining in the game, Albright held their largest lead of the game, 15 points, at 51-36.
 
Messiah struggled to shot the ball throughout the afternoon, but their struggles were particularly evident in the second-half as the Falcons went just 8-26 (30.8%) from the field and 0-8 (0.0%) from beyond the arc. Those shooting struggles together with seven second-half turnovers made a comeback difficult and the Falcons fell 60-48.
 
Despite forcing 19 Albright turnovers, the Falcons scored just seven points off those turnovers, eight points less than the Lions scored off 13 Messiah turnovers.
 
As mentioned, Neil Murren led the Falcons with a career-high 17 points, while also snagging seven rebounds. He has scored 11-plus points in each of the last five games, averaging 14.0 points per game over that same stretch.
 
With the loss, Messiah falls to 3-9 in the MAC Commonwealth and 6-15 overall. Today's game ends a five-game road trip for the Falcons. Messiah will next take the floor at home against Hood College on Wednesday. Game time is set for 8:00 p.m.