Grantham, PA – Messiah College played themselves into a three-way tie for third place in the Commonwealth this weekend, moving to 6-4 in the conference with a 66-52 win over Hood College. Taylor Groff led the Falcons with 22 points, and led a second-half surge that proved to be the difference maker for the winners.
 
"Taylor made some big plays for us tonight," Messiah head coach Rick Van Pelt said. "He came up with some huge rebounds and some big buckets, and really helped us stay tough."
 
Groff's biggest plays came in a pivotal stretch for the Falcons in the second-half. He grabbed an offensive rebound and scored at the rim to trim Messiah's deficit to 35-32 with 14:29 left and, moments later, grabbed another offensive rebound with the game tied at 37-37. He would be fouled on the play and sent to the free-throw line, knocking down the pair to give Messiah a two-point lead. On the Falcons' next possession, he faked a ball reversal pass before driving in for an elbow jumper to double the advantage.
 
"Those plays changed the game," Van Pelt said. "We regained some confidence—on both sides of the court."
 
After a jumper by Reggie Daniels brought Hood to within 41-39 with 11:14 remaining, Derek Mosley sent home a hook in the post just before Groff hit another set of free-throws.
 
Messiah would eventually go up 51-41 with just over seven minutes left, with Groff adding another four points. The Falcons would hold the double-digit lead for all but one possession the rest of the way, earning a win over Hood for the second time this season.
 
"Hood is a good team, and it wasn't easy to beat them twice this season," Van Pelt said. "I thought we stepped up in the second-half tonight and made the plays we needed. On the defensive end, I think we made it tough for them."
 
The Falcons held Hood to seventeen points below their season average, and also held leading scorer Cameron Cook to just six points. Cook, who did reach 1,000 points for his career with his first score on the night, came into the came averaging over fourteen points per game. He also was second in the Commonwealth in three-point shooting, hitting 50% (50-100). On Saturday, Cook hit his only attempt from downtown and managed just three shots overall.
 
"Our guys did a great job on him," Van Pelt said, giving specific mention to Christyan DeVan and Brad Bolen. "He's a big part of what they do, and in limiting him we slowed them down a lot."
 
Bolen finished with 20 points on the night, hitting ten of his twelve free-throw attempts. He started off quick at the game's beginning, hitting two midrange jumpers as the Falcons took a 7-0 lead.
 
Hood did work back to take a 14-12 lead with 7:29 left in the half, as the teams would fight through a low-scoring twenty minutes. Messiah took a 23-22 lead into the break.
 
Cook started the second-half by hitting his lone three-pointer, as Hood scrapped their way to the aforementioned 35-30 lead.
 
"We had to work through some shooting difficulties tonight," Van Pelt said, referring especially to Messiah's three-point struggles (1-13). " We had to grit it out and work a little harder for everything tonight. I think it's a good lesson for us and hopefully our guys realize how hard you have to play to win in this conference."
 
The Falcons' gritty play earned them thirty-eight trips to the free-line, where they scored 29 total points. Hood hit on just seven of sixteen free-throws. Though the discrepancy seems large, Hood was called for just eight more fouls than the Falcons (24-16).
 
"Hood made it tough for us to get to the basket," Van Pelt said. "But our guys battled around the rim and fought hard to keep possession in the full- and half-court. We played with good aggression."
 
Point guard Zac Hoy joined Groff and Bolen in double-digit scoring, finishing with 11 points on three of five shooting from the field. Derek Mosley tied Groff for a game-high seven rebounds.
 
Justin Bowens led Hood with 12 points, with Matt Galloway adding nine points. Overall, the Blazers shot just three of eight from downtown after entering the game as the conference's leader in made three-point field goals.
 
The loss drops the Blazers to 10-6 overall, including 4-5 in the Commonwealth. The Falcons improve to the same overall record, but now sit at 6-4 in the league. They also improve to 10-1 this season when leading at the half.
 
On Wednesday of next week, the Falcons will look to improve upon their record when they host rival Elizabethtown College at 8:00 p.m. Though just 3-7 in the conference, E-town defeated Lycoming today 92-87 and will certainly look for the same result against the Falcons.
 
"We're familiar with E-town and have had many great battles with them over the years," Van Pelt said. "I think our game tonight can serve us well for the type of game we'll play on Wednesday—it's going to be a battle."