Grantham, PA - No. 22 Messiah College rallied from an early 19-4 deficit and forced overtime with less than four seconds remaining, eventually winning in double-overtime over Albright College, 90-87. David Fernandez scored 18 points for the Falcons and, in thrilling fashion, put in the full-court, game-tying bucket at the buzzer in regulation.

Taylor Groff scored the game-winning basket with 40 seconds left in double-overtime, giving Messiah an 88-87 lead. Soon after that, Zac Hoy put Messiah up three points with two free-throws before Albright's final attempt from three-quarter court went awry.
 
Though the Falcons shot just 40 percent from the field, they kept pace with the Lions' 56.4 percent shooting—that is, after they went down 19-4 after just 5:44 of play. Albright shot of 7-9 from the field and 4-4 from the free-throw line to build the early advantage, one that would remain in double figures for most of the first-half. Messiah did score the final six points before halftime to trail by just six points (36-60) at the break.
 
In the second-half Messiah stayed in striking distance, though Albright pushed their lead to 48-37 on a layup by Pedro Perez with 13:33 to play. But that would be the largest lead the Lions would hold in the second-half or later, and the Falcons quickly went on a 6-0 run to draw within five points. Brad Bolen (drive to the basket, two free-throws) scored four of those six points and, moments later, again brought Messiah to within five points (50-45) with another finish at the rim.
 
Despite the Falcons' short rally, Albright calmly built their lead back to nine points (59-50) off a layup by Swint with 7:32 left. But here, much to the excitement of the packed house, Messiah began to truly chip away.
 
Trailing by seven with under six minutes to go, Brad Bolen hit a three-pointer from the right side to draw Messiah to within 62-58. Almost two minutes later David Fernandez added to the score to make it 62-60 and, after Albright took a 64-60 lead, Bolen and Fernandez each scored on slashes through the Albright zone to tie the game at 64-64.
 
Now with less than 30 seconds to play, Swint was fouled on a fadeaway jumper on the right side and made both shots to give the Lions a 66-64 lead. After a missed three-point attempt on a set play by Messiah, Albright's Calvert Gantz was fouled and sent to the line for a chance to extend the visitor's lead. He missed both however, with Messiah securing the rebound and calling timeout with just four seconds remaining.
 
Coming out of the timeout the Falcons executed perfectly to find Fernandez who drove right side for the contested layup off the backboard at the buzzer.
 
The bucket sent Messiah and their fans into celebration, though no one knew it would be just the first of two overtimes forced on the evening.
 
Albright took a quick 68-66 lead the first overtime, but Brad Bolen responded with back-to-back three-pointers to put the Falcons up 72-68. With just over a minute to go Bolen's two free-throws kept Messiah ahead 75-72 and, after Kyle Jordan made two shots from the stripe, Bolen again hit a pair to put Messiah up 77-74 with 25 seconds to play.
 
After an Albright timeout, the Lions came down and Swint quickly launched a three in an attempt to tie the game. Bolen leaned into Swint on the shot, getting called for a foul to send Swint to the line for three shots. The freshman calmly put in each attempt, tying the game at 77-77. A missed jumper by Fernandez in the final seconds sent the game into a second overtime.
 
Josh Marquez and Perez each scored to open the final period, putting Albright up 81-77 with 3:53 to play. Executing against the Lions' zone, Messiah received huge shot from Christyan DeVan on their next possession, with senior knocking down a three-pointer from the right side to make it a one-point game. After trading a pair of buckets over the next few possessions, Swint nailed a step-back jumper from the top of the key to put Albright up 87-84.
 
But that would be the Lions' last points. Brad Bolen hit another pair of free-throws on the Falcons' next possession and Perez missed a three-pointer near the end of the shot clock to give Messiah the ball back with a minute to play.
 
With 43 seconds to go Fernandez missed a three-pointer of his own from the right side, but Zac Hoy grabbed a huge offensive rebound at the top of the paint. He quickly shuffled a pass to Groff on the left block for a go-ahead finish plus a foul. Groff missed the attempt at the extra point, however, giving Albright a chance to win the game on their final possession.
 
Taking the ball with 39 seconds to play, Swint eventually took a shot in the paint as the shot clock expired. His attempt beat the buzzer, but a tie-up underneath went to Albright with less than four seconds on the game clock.  After a timeout, Albright failed to inbound on the baseline as Messiah forced a five-second call from the official. The pivotal defensive stop set off another celebration from the players and fans, as everyone began to sense a Messiah win.
 
Nevertheless, in tune with the evening's dramatics, Perez stole Messiah's ensuing inbound pass on the baseline. But he was quickly whistled for being out of bounds to allow for a huge exhale from the Messiah faithful. The Falcons' next inbounds pass went to Hoy with just two seconds remaining, and hiis two free-throws completed the scoring.

Brad Bolen led all scorers with 32 points on 10-21 shooting, with nine players in the game scoring at least 10 points. Hoy and Groff each scored 11 points, with Hoy handing out five assists. DeVan added 10 points and also dished out a game-high six assists.
 
Sameen Swint led Albright with 25 points and would have been the Lions' hero had they won in the last period. Perez scored 22 points and Kyle Jordan and Gantz added 17 and 14 points, respectively. Albright's bid for the upset was grounded most by two performance: a 1-12 showing from three-point range and 28 turnovers.
 
On the other end, Messiah committed just 14 turnovers as they used essentially every play in the game to chip away from their early deficit and earn the win.

With the victory, Messiah moved to 16-2 overall and 10-2 in the Commonwealth. Albright fell to 10-9 overall and an even 6-6 in the conference. The Falcons will next play at Lycoming College on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 8:00 p.m.