FORT LAUDERDALE, FL. - The Messiah men's basketball team opened up their winter break trip to Florida with a blowout loss to the Leopards of the Wentworth Institute of Technology early Tuesday evening. WIT used a dominating second half performance, shooting over 50% to win convincingly 73-47.

The Falcons will play New England College tomorrow evening to wrap up their trip to Florida.

Action
The Falcons jumped out to a 6-0 lead early and then a 9-4 lead with under 14 minutes remaining in the half before the Leopards took over. WIT finished the half on a 26-11 run to take a 30-20 lead into the break. Tyler Penley led the Falcons at the half with five points.

The Leopards weren't done, opening up the second half on a 20-4 run to put the Falcons away early. During that same stretch, the Falcons went 2-16 from the field and 0-5 from beyond the arc. The final score was WIT 73, Messiah 47.

In the Box Score
Tyler Penley led the Falcons in points with 11 and rebounds with eight. As a team, the Falcons shot 25% (14-54) from the field and 13% beyond the arc (3-23). The Leopards on the other side of the ball shot lights out, going 29-58 from the floor (50%) and 47% from three (9-19). In the second half alone, WIT shot an impressive 59% (16-27) from the field.

Up Next
The loss takes the Falcons to 5-6 on the year after starting the year 5-2. Messiah will play one more game in Florida at the campus on St. Thomas University, when they face New England College. That game will take place at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, December 21.