Grantham, PA - Leading by a single point in the final seconds against on Wednesday night, Messiah College fell victim to a buzzer-beating tip-in by the Warriors' Michael Rudy as the final horn sounded. Rudy tipped in a desperation shot from Jerald WIlliams, giving Lycoming a sudden 67-66 win over the Falcons.
Rudy's tip was ruled good on the court, simultaneously causing a celebration by the Warriors and a stunned disbelief from the Falcons. Oddly, the officials never came together to confirm the ruling.
Video replays showed the ball still on Rudy's hand as the clock expired.
"This was a tough loss for us," Messiah head coach Rick Van Pelt said. "It could be easy for us to focus on that last play, but we can't-- and we won't. There are a number of things that we needed to do better tonight, and we'll focus on those things."
"I'm proud of our guys tonight," Van Pelt added. "They really battled, and we put ourselves in a position to get a big win. Sometimes, it doesn't go your way."
The ending seemed fitting for the thrilling match-up of the two Commonwealth foes, as each team battled hard to break their identical 7-5 conference records.
Messiah grabbed early momentum on their home court, taking an 18-11 on a three-pointer by Taylor Groff at the 13:27 mark of the first-half. Groff would add a fourth three-pointer a few minutes later to keep the Falcons in front 22-18.
Lycoming responded by taking a 26-25 lead, with Chris Foreman hitting two shots of his own from downtown. Foreman would collect 11 points in the first twenty minutes for the Warriors.
"(Foreman) was a tough match-up for us tonight," Van Pelt said. "He kept them in it in the first-half, and really spaced the court."
The Falcons, though, continued to execute against the Warriors' man-to-man offense, and took a 30-27 lead on two free-throws byChristyan DeVan with just over three minutes to the break. Layups in the half-court by Derek Mosley and Zac Hoy put Messiah up 36-31 on the their final two possessions, as they went in the intermission with the five-point lead.
The second-half was played as tightly as the first, with Ihsaan Davis putting Lycoming ahead 49-48 at the free-throw line with 8:28 left to play. From there, both Derek Mosley and Foreman hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions for their teams. After Rudy hit a jumper to give Lycoming a 57-54 lead, Mosley scored on a turnaround in the post to again make it a one-point game.
But Foreman continued his hot streak from deep, hitting another two three-pointers to give the Warriors a 63-58 lead. His second of the pair came off a flare screen to the left wing with Brad Bolen quickly closing out.
The bucket would be Foreman's seventh made three-pointer on the night, as he finished with 25 points for the Warriors.
"I thought we did a pretty good job overall on our defensive end, but Foreman got to us," Van Pelt said. "We needed to not let him keep getting the looks that he was getting."
After Bolen scored on a full-court drive to the hoops, a paint score by Davis gave Lycoming a 65-60 lead with 1:35 left to play.
DeVan made it a one-possession game with a slashing drive on the right side, with Messiah calling a timeout to set up their full-court defense. Their move paid off, as Zac Hoy managed to force a jumpball on the Warriors' inbounds pass to secure possession for the Falcons. Bolen took advantage with another driving score, though he missed his free-throw in his attempt at a three-point-play.
Playing defense with a 14-second difference between the game clock and shot clock, DeVan committed an ill-advised foul to send Davis to the free-throw line for a one-and-one attempt. His shot was short, with Bolen's rebound setting up a drive to the hoop by Hoy.
Hoy was fouled before he made it to the rim, and made the front end of his one-and-one to knot the game at 65-65. With just seven seconds left, Hoy knocked in another free-throw to give the Falcons a 66-65 lead.
Now executing in the full-court, Lycoming's Jerald Williams was forced to the left corner for a desperation, leaning jumper from fifteen feet. His shot fell short of the rim, with Rudy's tip-in on the left side hitting off the backboard before dropping through the net.
The bucket set off a muffled celebration, as the Messiah-heavy crowd assumed the score would be waved off. But one of the three officials called the bucket good, with Lycoming rushing the court as the Falcons stood confused.
The win moves Lycoming to 8-5, keeping them in third place in the Commonwealth. Messiah falls to 7-6 in the conference, as they now stand in fourth place behind Alvernia (10-3), Albright (10-3), Lycoming, and Arcadia (8-5).
"This was a huge game for us, and it shows how close our conference is," Van Pelt said. "Every game we play is going to be a battle, and it's not easy to win. When you win, it feels great. And when you lose, you don't feel good about it. We'll need to improve and get ready for the next one."
Though ending in defeat, the Falcons did perform well in a few areas. They held Kevin Anthony and Anthony Martin-- two of Lycoming's more reliable scorers-- to just 19 combined points. In total, they held the Warriors to just 42.4% shooting from the field.
But Messiah also allowed 13 offensive rebounds to the Warriors, with Lycoming scoring 10 second-chance points in the second half alone. The Falcons also turned the ball over 19 times.
Foreman's 25 points were backed up by 12 points from Rudy and 10 points from Anthony. Groff led the Falcons with 18 points and eight rebounds, with Bolen and Mosley scoring 13 points and 12 points, respectively.
Messiah will look to rebound from the loss on Saturday, when they host Arcadia University for a 7:00 game. As mentioned, the Knights sit ahead of the Falcons at 8-5 in the Commonwealth.