GRANTHAM, Pa. – Sophomore
Thomas Vazzana and junior
Evan Ward each scored 11 points, but David Fernandez and Josh Clippinger scored 16 points apiece to lead Messiah to a 64-56 Commonwealth Conference victory over Albright on Wednesday in Brubaker Auditorium.
It was a damaging loss for the Lions in their pursuit of a berth in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament. Albright, which dropped to 9-12 overall and 5-8 in conference play, will likely need to win its final three games of the regular season to have any hopes of making the postseason.
Messiah, which improved to 13-9 overall and 6-8 in the Commonwealth, limited Albright to just 38.6 percent shooting from the field including 36.0 percent in the second half.
Ward added nine rebounds and three assists to his 11 points and
DeJuan Smith also reached double figures in scoring with 10 points.
Messiah also received 13 points and 12 rebounds from Geoff Boyle and 11 points from Zac Hoy.
The Falcons slowly pulled away from the Lions late in the second half as Albright went cold from the floor.
A three-pointer by Smith gave Albright a 49-48 lead with 9:20 to play in the second half, but Messiah answered with layups by Hoy and Boyle to take a 52-49 lead with 6:33 to play.
A layup by Vazzana with 5:27 left cut the lead to 52-51, but Albright would not score another field goal until
Vince Lombardi converted a layup with 11 seconds to play.
Clippinger answered the Vazzana basket with a three-pointer and Fernandez pushed the lead to 57-51 with a jumper with 4:30 left in the game.
A free throw by Smith and another by Vazzana got Albright to within 57-53 with 1:15 to play, but Messiah got layups by Fernandez and Matt Hess to extend the margin to 61-53 with 36 seconds remaining in the game.
Smith and Hoy exchanged free throws before the basket by Lombardi ended a stretch of 5:16 without a field goal and brought Albright to within 62-56.
Neil Murren sealed the victory for Messiah with a pair of free throws with 8 seconds remaining in the contest.
Albright will return to action on Saturday (Feb. 14) when it visits Arcadia in a Commonwealth Conference game scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
