Reading, PA - Messiah men's basketball fell down early, and a second-half surge was not enough as they dropped the final game of the season to Albright College by a score of 92-67.
 
Senior Luke Cable led the Falcons in his final game, tallying 24 points on 6-8 three-point shooting. The total tied his career high, first achieved last season against Eastern Mennonite. Rob McWilliams added 13 points and five rebounds in the effort. The Lions outrebounded the Falcons by a margin of 40-26, and led by as many as 31 points. Due to Cable's efficiency, the Falcons shot better from deep (9-22, 40.9%) than from the field (25-63, 39.7%).
 
Albright shot incredibly well, going 36-64 (56.3%) from the field and 11-22 (50%) from beyond the arc. The Lions also outscored the Falcons in the paint by a wide margin, 40-18.
 
Albright came out of the gate firing on all cylinders, scoring the first 16 points before Colin Sareyka knocked down a jumper. The Lions' early advantage ballooned to 25-2 at the 11:48 mark on a triple from Garrett Oplinger.
 
It did not get much better from there, as Albright would take leads of 38-12, 47-17, and the biggest margin in the game of 31 points (52-21) with two minutes left in the opening period. A jumper by McWilliams in the final seconds cut the advantage to 55-27 heading into halftime.
 
Albright made eight triples in the half out of 14 attempts, for a mark of 57.1%. They were also 20-33 (60.6%) from the field.
 
The Falcons fared a little better in the second-half, outscoring the Lions 40-37, and cutting the deficit to 18, 78-60, on one of Cable's six threes with 5:15 to play. However, Albright would increase their advantage back to 25 before the buzzer sounded, and win by a final score of 92-67.
 
Cable had 22 of his 24 points in the second-half, including a perfect 6-6 from deep.
 
DeJuan Smith paced the Lions with 22 points and six rebounds, while Fred Rowles chipped in seven points, eight boards, four assists, and a block. All 11 players that stepped on the court for Albright had at least four points.
 
Messiah ends the season 12-12 overall and 7-9 in the MAC Commonwealth, a four-win improvement in conference play over last season. The Falcons finished seventh in conference, despite only being three games back of second-place.