Thousand Oaks, CA. – On Saturday afternoon, the Messiah men's basketball team suffered an 85-64 loss to the Yeomen of Oberlin College. The Falcons has a strong offense first half, holding a lead as big as 40-22. However, an 16-1 run from the Yeomen quickly switched the momentum heading into the half only trailing 41-38. To begin the second half, Caleb Lyles provided most of the scoring, but it wasn't enough as Oberlin continued to flip the scales and take a 66-54 lead at the midway mark. However, for the remainder 10 minutes, the Falcons were unable to make any headway as Oberlin went on to win 85-64.
 
Up Next:
The Falcons will take on California Lutheran University Monday at 4:00PM eastern time.
 
How It Happened
First Half
Through the first three minutes of the game, the Falcons came out the gates strong. Cole Fisher, Johnny McBride, Caleb Lyles, and Christian Jackson all found the bottom of the net early to take a 10-5 lead. Over the next five minutes of play, the Yeomen were able to knock down a couple of baskets to cut the Falcon lead to 15-13. However, an Avery Kopcha three extended it to 18-13. As both teams exchanged baskets back and forth a 6-0 run from Jackson gave Messiah the 27-16 advantage with 11:34 on the clock. The Falcon's defense was strong, holding Oberlin to only finding points at the free throw line. Ben Wert and a couple other Falcons continued to find success extending the lead to 40-22. However, the Falcons got cold, as the Oberlin offense woke up ending the half on a 16-1 run, cutting the Messiah lead to 41-38.
 
Second Half
Through the first five minutes, Caleb Lyles was able to score all six points however, the Yeomen would shoot 6-8 from the field to take a 55-47 lead over Messiah. Over the next five minutes of play, despite both teams exchanging points, the Falcons shot 3-8 from the field as they found themselves still trailing 66-54. Both teams went cold over the next couple of possessions, but Ben Wert and Cole Fisher provided some much-needed points to cut the deficit to 71-59. However, the Yeomen created late distance behind a 12-1 run to put the game out of reach with two minutes remaining. Quint Fryer and Declan Hersh provided the late points for Messiah to make the final score 85-64.
 
Stats
Christian Jackson led the Falcons with 16 points and three assists. Caleb Lyles added 13 points, while Johnny McBride picked up four points and seven rebounds. The Falcons had a total of 10 scorers.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will take on California Lutheran University Monday, Dec. 30^th at 1:00p.m.