READING, Pa. - The Messiah men's basketball team suffered a 74-47 setback against the Alvernia Golden Wolves on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons were held to a 32.1% effort from the field in the low-scoring contest. The Golden Wolves used a massive 33-9 run in the middle of the first half to take a 39-19 lead at the halftime break.
 
Alvernia would not look back, extending their lead to as many as 30 in the second half en route to the comfortable victory.
 
EJ Porter led the Falcons with 15 points while Cam Carter finished with eight points. Will Young IV and Colin Sareyka ended with seven and five points, respectively.
 
The loss drops the Falcons to 8-10 overall and 1-8 in the MAC Commonwealth. The Falcons will be back in action on Wednesday night when they host the Lycoming Warriors at 6:00 p.m. on Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena.

Slow First Half
The Falcons could not get much rolling on the offensive side of the ball during the first half of their conference matchup with the Alvernia Golden Wolves on Saturday afternoon. Messiah scored just 19 points in the first half on a 27.6% shooting percentage. The Falcons also struggled from three, shooting just 18.2% from beyond the arc. EJ Porter, however, led the Falcons with eight points in the first half and also finished with a team-high 15 points.

Alvernia took control of the game with a 33-9 run that spanned the vast majority of the first half. Starting with a Mickeel Allen layup just over a minute and a half into the game, the next 14:29 belonged to the Golden Wolves. Alvernia went 13-20 from the field while holding Messiah to just a 4-24 effort during the streak. Four different Golden Wolves scored at least six points on the run with Steve Pierce leading the way with 11.

While the Falcons did make their last three attempts in the first half, Messiah went to the break down 20.

Golden Wolves Pull Away
Despite a much better shooting performance by the Falcons in the second half, Alvernia maintained their comfortable lead for the remainder of the game. Messiah picked up their scoring pace late in the second half, collecting 19 of their 28 second-half points in the final eight minutes of the game. Unfortunately for the Falcons, it was not enough as Alvernia held on for the 74-47 victory.

Up Next
Messiah falls to 8-10 overall and 1-8 in the MAC Commonwealth this season. The Falcons will host Lycoming College on Wednesday, January 29th at 6:00 p.m. The Falcons previously dropped a heartbreaker to the Warriors 63-62 just over a month ago in Williamsport.