Box Score

GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Lycoming College men’s basketball team overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to send the game to overtime, but a layup by Brad Bolen with 1.9 seconds left helped lift first-place Messiah to a 59-57 Commonwealth Conference win at the Brubaker Auditorium on Wednesday night, Feb. 8.
 
Junior Ihsaan Davis (Jamaica, N.Y./Christ the King) opened the overtime scoring with a 3-pointer and senior Mike Bradley (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph’s Prep) added a layup to give Lycoming (17-5 overall, 7-4 Commonwealth) a 55-50 lead, but 3-pointers from Derek Mosley and Bolen started a run of seven straight points for the Falcons (15-6 overall, 9-2 Commonwealth), giving them a 57-55 lead with 1:23 left.
 
Davis tied the game again with a pair of free throws with 1:07 left, and neither team could do anything with a possession until Bolen’s layup clinched the win.
 
Down by 10 points after an opening layup by Messiah in the second half, the Warriors fought back to take their first lead of the game with an 18-7 run over the first eight minutes of the half, as junior Anthony Martin (Detroit, Mich./Christ the King) converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 12:06 left.
 
From there, the team traded three ties and four lead changes over the next 10 minutes with neither team taking more than a four-point lead in that time.
 
After a pair of free throws from Taylor Groff gave Messiah a 49-46 lead with 2:43 left, the Warriors rallied with four straight points, with a layup from Bradley making it a one-point game before a Messiah turnover led to a pair of free throws Davis to give Lycoming a one-point lead with 1:30 left.
 
A free throw from Jeremiah Runkle with 34 seconds left helped Messiah tie the game at 50 and an offensive call by Lycoming helped send the game to overtime.
 
In the first half, the Falcons got out to a 10-2 start in the first 10 minutes of the game thanks to the Warriors’ cold start, hitting just 1-of-11 from the field in that span. However, the Warriors fought back into the game with their own 10-2 run over the next four minutes to tie the game at 12 after a free throw from Bradley.
 
The Falcons closed the half on an 11-5 run thanks to three 3-pointers from Mosley, as they took a 23-15 lead into the break.
 
Bradley led the Warriors with 19 points and eight rebounds and Davis added nine points and four rebounds. Sophomore Kevin Anthony (Columbus, Ohio/Bridgton Academy) added eight points and seven rebounds and Martin posted eight points. Junior Jerald Williams (Riverdale, Md./Bladensberg) added three points, three assists and six rebounds.
 
Mosley led the Falcons with 16 points and 12 rebounds and David Fernandez posted 15 points, six rebounds and three steals. Bolen finished with nine points and four rebounds and Groff notched eight points and five rebounds. Christyan DeVan posted four assists.
 
The Warriors return home on Saturday, Feb. 11, when they face Widener in a critical Commonwealth Conference game at 3 p.m. The women’s teams will play in the annual Breast Cancer Awareness game against the Pioneers in the first game of the doubleheader at 1 p.m.