Grantham, Pa. – The Messiah men's basketball team fell to visiting Widener, 77-61, Friday night in Hitchcock Arena. Leading the Falcons in scoring was Caleb Light (11), with Bryce Coletti also contributing a double-figures scoring performance (10). Matt Glogowski was strong on the glass, reeling in a team-high 14 rebounds. The Falcons, just a night after topping the Pride, fall to 2-6 on the season.

Pride Come Out Hot
The visiting Pride jumped out to a prompt 10-1 advantage in the opening 6:37 of the contest before Christian Reames connected on a triple for Messiah's first field goal of the game. During the cold offensive stretch, Will Young IV hauled in four defensive rebounds. Glogowski followed up with a driving layup at the 10:51 mark to pull Messiah back within a four-point deficit, 10-6.
 
Messiah continued to hang on throughout the first half of play. Coletti scored his fifth point of the game with 7:03 remaining, a three-pointer, cutting the deficit to 17-13. The triple from the freshman guard prompted an 11-0 scoring surge for Widener in the proceeding 2:25 of gameplay, a run that carved the visitors a 15-point advantage (28-13) with 3:59 to play in the first half. Light halted the scoring run, connecting on a jumper for his first bucket of the game.
 
The Pride's offense continued to stay hot, extending its lead, 35-19, behind another scoring spurt (7-4). Coletti drained a shot from beyond the arc for Messiah's final field goal of the first half with 1:33 left in the half. Widener found the bottom of the cup one more time in the half, a jumper that put the visitors ahead going into halftime, 37-22.
 
Widener shot 46.2% (6-13) from beyond the arc in the first half. The Falcons had seven different scorers find the scoresheet during the half, led by an eight-point performance by Coletti.
 
Falcons Hang In, But Not Enough
Glogowski scored the opening field goal of the second half, a right-handed layup just 44 ticks into the half, cutting the deficit, 37-24. The senior forward tacked on two more points at the charity strip at the 18:31 mark, his sixth and seventh points of the contest. The Pride scored the game's next four points before Light tallied five-straight points for Messiah in just 44 seconds of game play. The freshman guard converted a layup at the 17:10 mark and drained a three-pointer with 16:26 remaining, pulling Messiah back within 12 points (44-31).
 
The Falcons went on a scoring drought, not connecting until the 12:38 mark when Healy hit from beyond the arc, cutting into a 52-34 Widener advantage. The following five minutes of play proved to be neck-and-neck. The Falcons narrowly outscored the Pride during that span, 9-8, with three different scorers contributing for Messiah. 
 
The Falcons rattled in four points in one possession when Light was fouled on a made-jumper with 4:23 remaining. Light was off-the-mark on the free throw attempt, but Glogowski grabbed the offensive rebound and dished the ball back out to Light, who converted his second jumper of the possession, narrowing the Pride's lead to 64-51. Despite two made three-pointers from Evan Parker, the Pride ended the game on a 13-10 scoring run, earning the road victory, 77-61.
 
Notable Falcons
Following a 12-rebound game last night, Young reeled in nine rebounds. Glogowski supplemented his nine-point performance by connecting on 5-of-6 free throws, while pulling in his team-high 14 rebounds for a second-consecutive night. Parker connected on both of his three-point attempts, as Messiah had ten different scorers throughout the game.

The Falcons return to Hitchcock Arena to play its final home game of the season, a 7:00 matchup opposite Eastern University on Thursday, Mar. 11.