Box Score Men's Basketball
Messiah 80, Lebanon Valley 73

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GRANTHAM, Pa. - Lebanon Valley nearly erased a 20-point deficit, but Messiah held on to win the Commonwealth Conference opener 80-73 Wednesday night.

The Dutchmen (1-4, 0-1 CC) brought the game back to a single bucket with 1:49 to play, but Messiah scored the final five points of the game to hold on for the win keyed by Brad Bolen's jumper with 1:21 remaining.

Kevin Agnew led Lebanon Valley with 25 points, and Connor Pierce added a career-high 15 off the bench. Zach Mrozek had four of his seven points in the final minutes, hitting back-to-back buckets to bring LVC within two points at the 1:49 mark.

LVC used a 17-3 run mid-half to put themselves back in the game after Messiah went up 62-42 on the back of a 20-5 run of their own early in the second half. Two Agnew three-pointers sandwiched around Joey Giangiobbe's layup sparked the comeback, and LVC held the Falcons (6-0, 2-0 CC) to just a single field goal over a 6:29 span as they rallied.

The comeback lost momentum, though, when LVC couldn't get any points out of a possession with 30 seconds to go, and after David Fernandez converted both free throws to make it a two-possession game, Bolen made another to seal it up at 80-73.

The Dutchmen shot 42.4% for the game and made 18-of-24 free throws, while Messiah was 49.1% overall and 19-of-26 at the line. Kyler Burke added 12 points and six boards for LVC, and Fernandez had 17 for the Falcons.

LVC will visit Widener on Saturday.