Grantham, PA - Messiah men's basketball led for much of the game, but had to hold on tight to the end, stymying a Widener comeback to take a 72-65 win on Saturday evening.
 
After the Pride cut what was once an 11-point lead to two, 67-65, with 90 seconds left, Neil Murren drove down the lane and finished with the right hand to put the Falcons back up by four. After a miss by Widener, Matt Hess was fouled, and went one of two from the line. On Widener's ensuing possession, Rob McWilliams stole the ball from Kendall Green at the top of the key and raced down the court for a contested layup that rimmed out. However, Hess was trailing the play and grabbed the rebound, took the ball out of the key and passed to Murren, who was then fouled. Murren sank the resulting free throws to give Messiah a seven-point victory.
 
Josh Clippinger paced the Falcons with a double-double, tallying 19 points and 11 rebounds. Murren chipped in 15 points, and Hess had a wonderful game with 11 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and three steals.
 
Neither team had a great day at the free throw line, as Messiah went 14 of 23 (60.9%), just edging out the Pride's 56.7% (17-30). Widener's mark was due in large part to star player Sardayah Sambo, who despite scoring a team-high 19 points, only went 7 of 15 from the charity stripe. Otherwise, Sambo played very well, also grabbing 10 boards and recording three assists and two blocks.
 
Messiah improves to 7-6 on the season and 2-3 in the conference, while Widener falls to 6-7 and 1-4, respectively.
 
The Falcons got off to a great start in the first-half, taking an 11-4 lead after four minutes of play. Logan Long had seven of the 11 points in the run, including a three pointer, a crossover step-back jumper from the left elbow, and a beautiful reverse layup on the break that cause the Pride to call a timeout.
 
Something must have been said in the Widener huddle that sparked the team, as they responded with a 14-1 run of their own to take an 18-14 advantage at the 9:02 mark. Clippinger ended the run with a layup and then Luke Cable knocked down a jumper to tie the game at 18.
 
With just under seven minutes to go in the half, Sam Smith was fouled on a made layup, giving the Pride a 23-22 lead. A pair of free throws each from Clippinger and Hess, along with a triple from Cable and a layup by Clippinger, gave Messiah nine unanswered points to go ahead 31-23 at the 4:08 mark.
 
The Falcons and Pride traded baskets for the rest of the half, and Messiah took a seven-point lead, 35-28, into the break.
 
Kendall Green pulled Widener within two just after halftime on a jumper and a triple, but Clippinger responded by gathering his own missed layup and putting it back in to make the score 37-33. That started an 8-0 run for the Falcons, the other two baskets being three pointers by Murren, the first of which he banked in from the top of the key. A Matt Hess layup at the 16:08 mark pushed the lead to 11, 45-34.
 
Messiah would hold a comfortable lead that fluctuated around 10 points for much of the rest of the second-half, until the 3:37 mark, when Messiah was leading by 11, 65-54, and the Pride came storming back. Sambo knocked down a pair of free throws and John Fender hit two layups, the second of which he was fouled on and made the free throw, to cut the lead to four. On Messiah's next possession, the Falcons were inbounding from the baseline with two seconds left on the shot clock, when Hess threw an alley-oop to Clippinger cutting down the middle, who caught and tipped it in while falling to his left. However, Sam Smith then knocked down a jumper and Kendall Green hit two free throws to trim the Messiah advantage to 67-65.
 
Murren found space on the next possession to drive around his defender and convert the layup to push the lead back to four, and as mentioned, Messiah held on to win by a score of 72-65.
 
The Falcons continue MAC Commonwealth play on Wednesday, Jan. 11 when they travel to Hood College for an 8:00 p.m. start.