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Falcons Answer Call Against Scranton In 70-59 Home Win
Sophomore Andy Hawk buried eight of 11 shots en route to a season-high 18 points against Scranton.

Grantham, PA – An early lead was bettered only by a second-half stalwart from the Messiah College men’s basketball team Wednesday night, as the Falcons hung on to claim a 70-59 win over the University of Scranton in Brubaker Auditorium.

Though not as easy as Falcons’ head coach Rick Van Pelt may have wished, Messiah put together its first back-to-back wins of the season despite witnessing a 14-point, first-half lead dissipate entirely in the second period.

“This was a very big win for us tonight against a very good Scranton team,” Van Pelt said. “Scranton has a lot of talented players and they did some things that we had some difficulty with. I was really proud of the way our guys remained poised and figured out a way to win.”

Messiah (3-2, 0-0) led by as many as 14 points in the first half and looked to be on cruise control from the outset, as the Falcons scored 15 of the game’s first 19 points in opening up a 15-4 lead at the midway point of the first period. The squad led by a 28-14 count with 4:26 remaining in the first half, while a driving layup from senior Darryl Brown made it a 32-19 difference immediately before the halftime buzzer.

“We felt like we knew Scranton pretty well in terms of scouting, and I thought we did a very good job of taking away some of their key players early on,” said Van Pelt, whose team was coming off a week-long layoff. “We also talked about the fact that Scranton would make a run at us, and we wanted to be able to handle that.”

Literally moments into the second half, Van Pelt was proved a prophet.

A layup from Scranton’s Ryan FitzPatrick cued a 17 to three Royals’ run to open the second period, and – just six minutes in – Messiah found itself down by a 38-35 score.

Back-to-back layups from sophomores Andy Hawk and Josh Curtin helped momentarily turn the tide back to the Falcons, however, as those interior scores made the count 39-38, Messiah, with 11:42 to play. A three-pointer from the Royals’ FitzPatrick again gave Scranton the lead, coming in the form of a 42-39 score with 11:30 remaining.

An ensuing, traditional three-point play from junior Jason Miller would eventually change the permanent landscape of the contest.

Miller scored an acrobatic layup – plus a Scranton foul – at the half’s 9:50 mark, knocking in the free throw for a 42-41 lead.

Messiah would never trail again.

Another layup from Miller followed by an interior score from Hawk made the score 46-41, Messiah, with 7:49 to play, while sturdy defense and superior free throw shooting would keep the Royals at bay for the remainder. Scranton was held to making just three of its final nine shots from the floor, while the Falcons buried their last 16 free throws of the game.

Scranton would get no closer than eight points in the contest’s final three minutes.

“Scranton made some great adjustments at halftime and utilized a smaller lineup that penetrated on us and shot the three well,” Van Pelt said. “I was pleased with our effort though, and the fact that we kept on battling. We figured out a way to win.”

Van Pelt’s team benefited greatly at the charity stripe, making 22 of 25 freebies (88 percent) compared to an efficient yet paltry six-for-six performance from Scranton (100 percent). Messiah’s performance at the free throw line was by far the best of the season for the team, as the Falcons could only convert on 12 of 24 charity tosses – the team’s second-most trips to the line this season – in an 85-63 loss to Mansfield University on Nov. 20 (click here for related article).

Hawk led Messiah’s scoring efforts, charting a season-high 18 points on an eight for 11 shooting performance. Curtin and Brown added 13 and 11, respectively, while Curtin hauled in a team-leading five boards.

“Our big guys in Curtin and Hawk really played well defensively for us, and it was good to see Hawk do some good things offensively,” Van Pelt said. “(Junior) Drew Sneeringer came off the bench and helped settle us down a bit in the second half. This was a big win for us at this stage of the season. Hopefully it will help us as we enter this weekend’s tournament.”

Messiah will next host the annual Falcon Alumni/Hampton Inn Tournament, with play beginning Friday evening and concluding Saturday afternoon. Juniata College will face off against Manhattanville College Friday at 5:30 p.m. to open play, while Messiah will take on Penn State University-Harrisburg at approximately 7:30 p.m. in the nightcap. The consolation game is set for 1 p.m. Saturday with the championship contest slated for 3 p.m.