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Messiah Never Trails In Season-Opening Victory
Sophomore Josh Curtin was one of four Messiah players in double-figure scoring, notching 14 points on seven of nine shooting.

Gettysburg, PA – Wesley College’s Rashawn Johnson poured in a game-high 20 points and had four steals, but a Messiah team coming off back-to-back NCAA berths took a 73-63 win over Wesley in the first round of the Gettysburg Days Inn Tip-Off Tournament on Friday night.

Messiah (1-0) opened the game with a 12-2 run in the first four minutes that included six of sophomore Josh Curtin's (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) team-high 14 points. A Johnson three-pointer with just under 13 minutes left in the half cut the Falcons' lead to just four before another spurt gave Messiah a 23-12 lead. 

A Wesley jumper with 9:23 remaining in the half opened a 15-3 Wolverine run to tie the game at 27-27, capped by a Wesley three-pointer with 5:15 left. Messiah regrouped, however, and Wesley (0-1) needed a jumper by Johnson at the buzzer to trail by single digits at the half, 40-31.

Curtin's 10 first-half points paced a hot-shooting Falcon squad that connected on 60 percent of its shots in the opening half.

Messiah opened the second half with another run, 13-1, to go ahead 53-32 with just under 13 minutes to play. However, the Wolverines were not done. A three-point play by Dan Henry cut the Messiah lead to five, 67-62 with 2:37 left. That margin was as close as Wesley would get as Messiah closed it out with a pair of free throws in the final 14 seconds.

The Falcons outrebounded the Wolverines 40-25 in the game. While Messiah shot 56 percent from the floor, the Wolverines' perimeter defense limited the Falcons to just 5-of-20 from beyond the arc.

Sophomore Andy Hawk (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) and Jamie Yoder (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) scored 12 each for the Falcons, while senior John Boyd (Salisbury Center, NY/Dolgeville Central) gave Messiah four players in double figures with 11 points. Classmate Darryl Brown (Bowie, MD/Riverdale Baptist) had a game-high ten rebounds while almost reaching a double-double with nine points.

The Falcons will face the host Bullets in Saturday’s Championship game. Gettysburg was an 89-82 victory over Marietta (Ohio) in the other semifinal. Wesley will face Marietta at 2:00 PM in the consolation game while the championship is slated for a 4:00 PM tip.

Portions of this press release reproduced from Wesley’s Athletics website.