GRANTHAM, Pa. - After being down by as much as 20 early in the second-half, Messiah men's basketball managed to cut the Lancaster Bible College lead to six with just under seven minutes to play, but that was as close as the Falcons would get as the Chargers pulled away for a 75-66 victory in the season opener for both teams.

Christo Majok led Lancaster Bible with 23 points and six rebounds, shooting 9-13 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc. On Messiah's side, Colin Sareyka was the game's leading scorer with 25 points, and Matt Hess chipped in with 16. Josh Darville was a monster on the glass, securing 15 board to help Messiah outrebound the Chargers 46-43 in the contest.

However, the story of the game was in the shooting percentage, as Lancaster Bible shot 50% (28-56) from the field and 61.1% (11-18) from three-point range, while the Falcons shot a paltry line of 31.9% (22-69) from the field, 28.6% (8-28) from beyond the arc, and just 48.3% (14-29) from the free throw line. The Chargers' bench also outscored Messiah's by 17 (25 to 8).

Back-and-Forth Beginning
The Falcons traded buckets with the Chargers for the first few minutes, taking a 7-6 lead on a three from Neil Murren at the 16:52 mark. After a short 5-0 run by Lancaster Bible, Messiah clawed back to tie the score at 14 thanks in part to back-to-back triples from Sareyka and Murren. Once again, LBC went on a run, this time hitting three consecutive shots to take a seven-point lead. It was then Messiah's turn to go on a run, as two more threes from Sareyka and another one from Kyle Krout gave the Falcons a 23-22 advantage with 7:39 to play in the first-half. However, this would be the last lead the Messiah would hold for the remainder of the contest.

Chargers Race Into Halftime
For the remainder of the first period, Messiah could not buy a basket, as Lancaster Bible went on an 18-6 run to take a 40-29 halftime lead. It could have been worse, but a Matt Hess triple in the final seconds cut the Charger lead back down to 11.

LBC rode the momentum from their strong first-half finish out to a 20-point lead (54-34) with 13:30 to play in the game. Over those first six and a half minutes, Messiah only made two of their 12 attempts from the field, and turned the ball over five times.

Falcons Find Life
Over the following seven minutes, Messiah outscored Lancaster Bible 17-3 to cut the Charger lead to just six (57-51) with 6:57 to play in regulation. However, Christo Majok followed with two threes and a long jumper, building LBC's lead back to 10 at 65-55 with just over four minutes to play.

A Nate Eberle lay-up with two minutes left cut the Charger lead back down to seven, but that was as close as the Falcons would get as Herbie Brown recorded back-to-back layups and Messiah only managed two more points before the final buzzer.

Next Up
The Falcons will look to rebound from tonight's loss this weekend as they host the annual TownePlace Suites Tip-Off. Messiah will play Wilson College on Friday night at 4:00 p.m., followed by either Eastern Mennonite University or Delaware Valley University on Saturday.