GRANTHAM, PA. - The Falcons used a hot first half beyond the arc to open up a commanding lead in the first half and continued to suffocate Dickinson on the defensive end on route to a convincing 78-52 win for their fourth win of the season. Claiborne led the Falcons in points with 15 while Edwards and Coletti added 13 and 12 points in the game. 

The Falcons shot 50% from three going 7-14 on the night in the dominating win. 

The Falcons sit at 4-1 and will host Penn State Harrisburg next week on Nov. 22 at 7:00 PM. 

First Half
Bryce Coletti kicked off the scoring with a three-pointer to give the Falcons an opening 3-0 lead. After five minutes of play, the Falcons had opened up 12-5 lead going 2-4 from three with the aforementioned Coletti three as well as a Claiborne three-pointer to force a Red Devils timeout. The Falcons only continued to build on their lead, increasing the advantage to 16 after Claiborne knocked down another three to make it 21-5 with 10:21 to go making it an 18-0 run by Messiah after being down 5-3 early. 

After another Dickinson timeout, the Red Devils finally got a field goal to go down after a seven minute stretch of no points, stopping a 18-0 run by the Falcons. The Red Devils started finding success going on a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to within ten at 25-15. With just under five to go, Messiah led 29-17. 

That lead went to 33-18 before Rick VanPelt called a timeout with 3:35 to go. The Falcons ended the half on a 7-0 run and beat the buzzer when Coletti found Edwards down low for a layup as time expired. The Falcons went into the break with a 41-19 lead.

First Half Stats
The Falcons shot 60% from beyond the arc, going 6-10 and went 14-32 from the floor (43%) in the first half as the Falcons spent over 18 minutes in the first half with the lead.  The 41 points were the most in the first half for the Falcons this season and was one point less than their total output last game against Catholic (42). Claiborne led Messiah with 11 points at the half. As for Dickinson, the 19 first half points was their lowest this season. 

Second Half
The opening seven minutes of the second half were uneventful with not only nine combined points but nine combined fouls as well. With under ten minutes to go, the Falcons led 55-30. The Falcons led by as many as 29 and led 69-41 at the 5:42 mark. The second half progressed slowly as the fouls continued to rack up, with both teams combining for 24 fouls with four and a half minutes remaining. Eventually, the Falcons won 78-52. The second half ended with 30 personal fouls combined (15 each). 

Stats
The Falcons shot just under 50% for the game and shot an impressive 50% from three. Messiah went 24-52 from the field and 7-14 from the three point line. The Falcons went 23-31 from the free throw line as well. 

Arkese Claiborne led Messiah with 15 points while Tim Edwards and Bryce Coletti tacked on 13 and 12 respectively. Penley and Cuperus tied for the team lead in rebounds with six. 

Up Next
The win brings the Falcons record to 4-1 on the young season and will play Penn State Harrisburg on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 7:00 PM next week. That game will be on Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena.