Falcons Blast York By 85-54 Count; Win Fifth Straight
Sophomore Kyle Snyder pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds while scoring 10 points, one of five Messiah players in double-figures.

Grantham, PA — Don’t look now, but the Messiah College men’s basketball team is officially on a roll.

The Falcons captured their fifth consecutive win Saturday night in Brubaker Auditorium, manhandling York College by an 85-54 score. Messiah connected on 54.2 percent of its field goal attempts in the lopsided win, while the squad has averaged a 51.7 percent shooting clip in its last five games.

Combine that with only a 39.3 defensive field goal percentage in the same time span, and the ingredients are in place for a team that appears to be spiraling upward.

“This was a very good win for us tonight, no question,” said Messiah head coach Rick Van Pelt. “We have really been executing our game plans lately, and tonight was no exception. I thought we shared the ball well and that led to us shooting the ball well, and our confidence continued to grow as a result.”

A nearly sold-out Brubaker Auditorium watched Van Pelt unveil an altered starting lineup for the first time this season, as sophomore Jamie Yoder and freshman Colton Reitz opened the contest on the floor. The change arrived via an injury issue and disciplinary measure, according to Van Pelt.

“I thought the way our guys responded to that was really good,” Van Pelt said of the change-up. “It almost gave us kind of a chip-on-our-shoulder, backs-against-the-wall type of mentality, and our senses were heightened.”

Those heightened senses translated into an early 8-3 lead from Messiah (10-4, 0-0), while York (9-5, 0-0) would get close just once for the remainder of the game: Spartans’ senior and All-American Chad McGowan converted a pair of free throws to make the score 12-11, Messiah, with 13:47 on the first period game clock.

Those freebies were promptly answered by a three pointer from sophomore Kyle Snyder and a baseline jumper from classmate Andy Hawk, while a jumper from Yoder made the score 21-11 just two minutes later.

York cut the lead to single digits three times over the game’s next seven minutes, but it was purely aesthetic in nature. Back-to-back layups from Reitz and junior Jason Miller turned a 37-28 lead into a 41-28 difference with 3:20 to play in the half, while Messiah would eventually take a 49-33 advantage into the locker room behind a sizzling 20 for 32 (62.5 percent) first-half shooting performance.

“I was really impressed with the play of our bench tonight and the leadership of our upperclassmen, (seniors) Johnny Boyd and Darryl Brown,” Van Pelt said. “Those two have really provided a sense of calm to the team lately, and we haven’t gotten rattled. They have really improved in that role during the course of the year.”

And while Messiah would not scorch the nets at quite the same rate of heat in the latter 20 minutes — 12 of 27, 44.4 percent — it would be more than enough. The Spartans scored the half’s first four points to crawl within a 49-37 difference, but a three-ball and layup from Miller quickly erased those efforts. A slip behind the York defense gave Yoder an uncontested layup from Miller just moments later, and Messiah had built its largest lead of the game — 58-37 — with 13:50 to play.

Things would only aggrandize from there, as a traditional three-point play from Yoder put the Falcons ahead by a 68-41 score with 7:38 to play.

Messiah would lead by as many as 33 points — 85-52 — but a pair of free throws from York’s Matty Foley in the waning moments produced the final spread.

Van Pelt’s team placed five players in double-figure scoring for the first time this season — the team’s previous single-game best was three players — as Miller charted a season-high 15 points and seven assists in 32 minutes of work. Boyd added 13 points on a five-for-nine shooting performance, while classmate Brown scored 11 points. Snyder and junior Ryan Witmer each scored 10, while Snyder pulled down a workman-like 11 boards.

“It’s been nice to be back at home,” Van Pelt said of his team’s last two games (the squad’s previous home contest occurred on Dec. 8). “Our gym is a little bit of a shooter’s gym, and that can be a good and bad thing. But for us, it’s always nice to be in a familiar place. I think that has helped us in terms of our shooting the ball the last two games.”

Messiah will take a week layoff before returning to Brubaker again next Saturday, as the team will host Lancaster Bible College at 4 p.m. on Jan. 19.

“Guys are really responding to our preparation,” Van Pelt said. “It’s not a waste of time. Guys are buying in and we are playing well. We’ll do our best to continue to work at it.