Box Score

ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior guard Hunter Bretschneider missed a three-pointer with three seconds left, and junior forward Jared Yoder grabbed the rebound as Messiah College rallied from 14 points down to defeat Lebanon Valley 53-51 in Commonwealth Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon in the LVC Gymnasium.

With the win, Messiah (4-2, 2-0 CC) snapped a 13-game losing streak at Lebanon Valley, winning in Annville for the first time since Nov. 30, 1976.

Bretschneider shot 4-for-8 from three-point range for the second game in a row and finished with a game-high 16 points. Yoder paced the Falcons with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

With the game tied 50-50, Yoder drove down the right side of the lane for a lay-up, was fouled, and hit the ensuing free throw with 2:04 on the clock.

Freshman guard Kyle Enoch made the first of two foul shots for Lebanon Valley (2-5, 0-2 CC) with 59 seconds left, setting the final score. After the two teams traded turnovers, the Dutchmen fouled freshman guard Drew Sneeringer, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with 10 seconds to go. Sophomore forward Peter Ruth pulled down the rebound, but Bretschneider’s last-second shot was short.

The game was extremely close in the early going, with neither side leading by more than three over the opening 10 minutes. But with the game tied 13-13, the Dutchmen used a 10-2 run, highlighted by consecutive three-pointers from Bretschneider, to open up a 23-15 lead with 5:12 to go in the half. Lebanon Valley led 32-25 at the break.

The Dutchmen continued to pull away in the second half, scoring the first seven points to make it 39-25 following a lay-up from sophomore center Luke Foster with 18:01 left. But Lebanon Valley would manage just 10 points and three field goals the rest of the way, as the Falcons limited LVC to 27.3% shooting in the second half.

After Foster’s bucket, Messiah used an extended 16-2 run over a 9:11 span to tie the game. The Falcons held the Dutchmen to no points over a three-minute span to get the deficit into single digits (39-30) with 15:12 left, and after a jumper from junior guard Jimmy Curran with 14:52 to go, Messiah shut out Lebanon Valley for the next eight minutes. A three-pointer from senior guard Quinn McCullough with 8:50 remaining tied the game 41-41, and a pair of McCullough free throws with 8:06 left gave the Falcons their first lead since the 11:27 mark of the first half.

Bretschneider broke the Dutchmen’s scoring drought when he converted a conventional three-point play with 6:51 to go, giving the Dutchmen a 44-43 lead. But McCullough dropped in a lay-up just over a minute later, giving the Falcons the lead for good.

Sneeringer nailed a three-pointer with 5:19 left to put Messiah ahead by four (48-44), and a Yoder lay-up restored the team’s four-point advantage with 3:41 remaining. But after Bretschneider hit the first of two free throws with 3:17 left, making it 50-47, Enoch chased down an offensive rebound on the missed second shot and fired a cross-court pass to Curran, who drained a trey from the left elbow to tie it up 50-50.

Curran finished with 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Foster came off the bench to post four rebounds and four blocked shots while playing a career-high 21 minutes. Senior forward Dan Hogan recorded six points and seven rebounds while Enoch finished with six points and four assists.

McCullough totaled 11 points and five assists for Messiah while senior guard Dan Snyder had 10 points.

The Falcons shot just 31.0% in the second half and 35.8% for the game.

Lebanon Valley junior forward Dave Kasyan left the game midway through the first half with an ankle injury.

The Dutchmen return to action on Tuesday, when they host Delaware Valley College at 7:30 p.m. in a non-conference game.

[Photo - Sophomore center Luke Foster, who had four rebounds and four blocked shots against Messiah on Saturday]

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