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Falcons Finally Lose In '08 As Elizabethtown Ends 7-Game Streak
Sophomore Andy Hawk carded a career-high 19 points in Messiah's loss to Elizabethtown.

Elizabethtown, PA — After claiming seven victories in a row and refusing to fall in the 2008 calendar year, 25th-ranked Elizabethtown College put an end to the Messiah College streak, dealing the Falcons an 84-68 defeat Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth men’s basketball action.

Messiah (12-5, 1-1) stayed close to the Blue Jays despite surrendering a 55.6 percent shooting percentage to the hosts, the team’s second-highest defensive field goal percentage allowed this year. In the end, however, Elizabethtown was simply too much, closing the game with a 23 to 12 run in handing Messiah its first conference loss of the year.

“When you’re playing a team that can shoot the basketball as well as E’Town can, you have to limit the peripheral points,” said Rick Van Pelt, Messiah head coach. “The transition points, points off turnovers, second-chance points. . .we simply gave up too many of those tonight to have a realistic chance.”

Elizabethtown — ranked 25th in the Jan. 21 D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and coming off a league-opening 79-78 overtime loss to Lycoming College — took awhile to get going at the outset of Saturday’s contest, falling behind by a 12-6 score early on. A layup from sophomore Kyle Snyder gave Messiah a 14-8 lead with 12:12 to play in the first half, but an ensuing 15 to nothing Blue Jays run changed the complexion entirely. Messiah would miss its next seven shots from the floor over a span of five minutes, trailing by a 23-14 score with 7:08 to play in the first half.

A quick, seven to nothing burst from the Falcons pulled Van Pelt’s squad within a 25-21 deficit with 4:59 to play, but another E’Town surge — this one an 11 to four run — put the hosts ahead by a 38-25 count at the break.

“I thought that they competed a little bit better than we did (in the first half),” Van Pelt said. “All conference games will be physical, but I thought we could have competed a bit better.”

Elizabethtown (14-2, 1-1) kept a safe lead through the initial eight and a half minutes of the second period, holding a 59-45 advantage with 11:32 left to play. It was at that point that Messiah made its best push of the day, scoring the game’s next nine points to pull within five. Sophomore Andy Hawk converted a scooping, left-handed layup off a nifty pass from classmate Ryan Nicholas at the 11:17 mark, while back-to-back layups from senior Darryl Brown and Nicholas made the score 59-51, E’Town, with 10:52 to play.

The Falcons forced the Blue Jays into a missed shot on their next offensive possession, and when senior Jonathan Boyd buried a baseline three on Messiah’s next trip, the game was up for grabs at 59-54.

Sadly for Messiah, a triad of missed opportunities to get any closer would foil the team’s comeback efforts: Despite another three consecutive stops on the defensive end of the floor, Van Pelt’s squad would have no points to show for it, giving away a pair of turnovers and missing a layup during that stretch. And while a jump shot from sophomore Jamie Yoder would negate a pair of Elizabethtown free throws at the game’s 7:39 mark — the score was 61-56 at that point — Messiah would get no closer, eventually being outscored by an 11 to four difference over the next 4:48.

“We had it to five points and had three straight defensive possessions where we got a stop,” Van Pelt said of the pivotal moments. “We had a couple turnovers there where we didn’t see open people for pitch-outs, but a lot of that is their defensive pressure. We made some plays at times where we did find the open guy and knocked down the shot. It was a tight game, and we didn’t make enough plays at the right times.”

Hawk finished with a career-high 19 points to lead Messiah, going nine of 12 from the floor. Brown scored 18 and equaled a team-high five rebounds. Boyd finished with nine points, while Nicholas provided a spark off the bench in scoring eight points, grabbing five boards and dishing out a career-high five assists.

Messiah shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the defeat (28 of 54), but committed 18 turnovers to Elizabethtown’s 10, the team’s worst differential of the season.

“We just had too many mistakes,” Van Pelt said. “To their credit, they made plays and knocked down some tough shots, but they are a very good team. There really is not room for error if you want to beat them on their home floor.”

Messiah will return to the friendly confines of Brubaker Auditorium for its next conference match-up, as the team will host Lycoming Wednesday night. Game time is set for 8 p.m.

“Sometimes winning can hide your deficiencies,” Van Pelt said of his team’s recently-ended streak. “Maybe this will help us take a closer look at ourselves. There’s not a ton that we have to change, we just have to continue to work and get better. This league is tough.”