Owings Mills, MD - Messiah men's basketball took down the Mustangs of Stevenson University on the road Wednesday evening by a score of 72-68. The Falcons built an 11-point lead early in the second-half on three triples in a row from Logan Long, and held on down the stretch with great free throw shooting from Matt Hess and Neil Murren.
 
Long led the Falcons with 24 points, and Josh Clippinger added 21 points and seven rebounds. With their eighth win in the last ten games, Messiah improves to 11-8 overall and gets over .500 in the MAC Commonwealth for the first time this season at 6-5.
 
Messiah went 5-10 from deep in the second half, and all seemed to come at crucial moments in the game. The Falcons forced 17 turnovers to only committing nine, but were vastly outrebounded by Stevenson at a margin of 49-28. 19 of the Mustangs' rebounds came on the offensive end, leading to 20 second-chance points.
 
It was the Josh Clippinger show early on for the Falcons, as the senior scored nine of Messiah's first 11 points. However, Stevenson was able to race out to a 17-13 lead at the 12:25 mark capped by a three from Walt English.
 
Colin Sareyka answered with a triple of his own on the next possession to cut the deficit to one, but the Mustangs would rally again, going on a short 6-2 run to bring the score to 23-18 with 7:45 to play in the first-half.
 
Starting with a tip-in by Clippinger, Messiah then came alive with a 13-0 run over the next four minutes. Logan Long drained a triple to tie the game at 23, and then four layups in a row by Hess, Clippinger, Luke Cable, and finally Long on the fast break gave the Falcons a 31-23 advantage at the 3:21 mark.
 
However, the Mustangs would cut the eight-point lead down to three at the half, 33-30. Long and Clippinger were already in double figures at the break, with 11 and 13, respectively, 24 of the Falcons' 33 points.
 
Messiah opened the second-half on an 13-5 run, pushing the lead to 46-35 at the 15:42 mark. The run was fueled by three triples from Long, as well as a tough layup by Clippinger and a smooth runner in the lane from Hess.
 
The Mustangs came right back with seven unanswered points, cutting the Messiah lead to four, 46-42, with ten minutes to play. The Falcons and Mustangs would trade buckets over the next five minutes, as Messiah still held a four-point lead with 5:28 to go, 53-49. Sareyka then stepped up big for the Falcons, draining a deep three with a hand in his face to put Messiah up by seven.
 
Stevenson would cut the lead to four with 2:22 remaining on a layup from Cameron Hayes that made the score 60-56, but Long was then left alone on a broken press, and he did not hesitate to drain a three from the corner to again bring the lead back to seven.
 
The Mustangs decided it was time to foul, and the Falcons went 9-10 from the free throw line in the remainder of the game, holding on for a 72-68 victory.
 
Cameron Hayes and Johnny Rhodes each had 16 for Stevenson, while Cliff Cornish had seven points and 14 boards.
 
Messiah will next travel to take on Alvernia University on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.