Box Score

GRANTHAM, Pa. – Zach Wiernicki scored 12 of his game-high 23 points over a decisive five-minute stretch at the start of the second half, and Messiah College topped Lebanon Valley 75-59 in a Commonwealth Conference men’s basketball tilt Saturday evening at Brubaker Auditorium.

With the win, coupled with losses by Albright and Widener, Messiah (13-6, 6-2 CC) moved into sole possession of first place in the Commonwealth.

After leading 39-34 at halftime, the Falcons outscored Lebanon Valley (9-10, 3-5 CC) 36-25 in the second half, when they limited the Flying Dutchmen to 26.9% shooting.

LVC was paced by junior guard Jimmy Curran, who scored a team-high 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Junior guard Hunter Bretschneider added 12 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting for the Dutchmen while senior forward Dan Hogan notched his fourth double-double of the season on 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Lebanon Valley was in control early after racing out to a 13-4 lead over the opening 3:28, prompting a Messiah timeout. The Dutchmen’s lead hit nine on four more occasions, the last occurring when Curran hit Hogan cutting down the lane for a lay-up to make it 28-19 with 6:48 to go in the period.

It was 30-23 in favor of LVC with 5:25 left following a fadeaway jumper in the lane from sophomore forward Peter Ruth, but that’s when Messiah got hot. The Falcons used a 14-2 run, capped by a put-back dunk from Wiernicki, to go ahead 37-32 with 1:22 on the clock. Lebanon Valley cut it to three after freshman guard Kyle Enoch knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:04 remaining in the stanza, but Dan Snyder converted a lay-up three seconds before the horn to give Messiah its five-point lead at the intermission.

The Falcons continued their surge at the start of the second half, when they outscored LVC 8-2 to push their lead to double digits (47-36) with 17:01 left following a Jared Yoder lay-up. Those were Messiah’s only points of the first five minutes of the half scored by a player other than Wiernicki, who 1:32 later nailed a three-pointer followed by a lay-up to extend the home team’s advantage to 15 (53-38) with 14:48 left.

A pair of free throws from Quinn McCullough with 7:12 showing gave Messiah its largest lead (63-45) of the night before an 8-3 Dutchman spurt, fueled by 6-for-6 free-throw shooting, made it a 13-point game (66-53) with 3:27 remaining. But Messiah went 7-for-8 from the foul line over the final 1:43, converting the front end of two one-and-one opportunities, to salt away the game.

Matt Henninger scored 17 points for Messiah, including eight of the team’s final 10 points, when he was 6-for-6 at the line. McCullough added 13 points.

The Dutchmen out-rebounded the Falcons 34-26.

Lebanon Valley picks up its schedule on Wednesday, when it hosts Widener University at 7:30 p.m. in another Commonwealth Conference outing.

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