Grantham, PA - The Messiah men's basketball team was firing on all cylinders Wednesday evening as they put together a fine 80-73 win over Commonwealth Conference rival, Lebanon Valley College. The Falcons (6-0, 2-0) took an early double-digit lead in the first eight minutes of play, yet the Dutchmen (1-4, 0-1) wouldn't go away easily. LVC used the rest of the half to battle back and eventually pull ahead by a single point with less than three minutes in the half, but triples from Zac Hoy and Taylor Groff would put the Falcons back on top to take a nine point lead into the half time locker room.

The second half was much like the first as the Falcons literally ran away with the game in the opening minutes. Messiah's tough defense led to numerous LVC turnovers, which the Falcons converted into six points off of fastbreak layups. The pace seemed to get the best of the Dutchmen when they started to commit foul after foul, sending the Falcons to the charity stripe. Messiah seized the opportunity and pulled ahead by 20 points, their largest lead of the game.

But the Dutchmen weren't giving up that easily. In the next nine minutes, LVC used a 25-7 scoring surge to pull within two points.

With a little over four minutes to play, the Falcons tightened up their defense and David Fernandez went to work. After making one layup, Fernandez came up with a key steal that led to yet another layup, this time from Taylor Groff. Although the Dutchmen's Kevin Agnew would respond with a jumper, Groff dominated the paint yet again for his 19th and 20th points of the game and gave the Falcons the 75-69 lead.

Although Lebanon Valley hit back-to-back buckets to come within two points of the lead with less than two minutes to play, the Falcons would take no part in a come-from behind win for the Dutchmen. Instead, the Falcons hit the defensive boards and took back control of the game. In the final minute, Brad Bolen hit a jumper while David Fernandez made two free throws to push ahead 79-73. After a missed three-pointer by the Falcons, Bolen was fouled and made a single free throw to seal the 80-73 victory.

On the night, the Falcons' offense was led by Brad Bolen (22 points), David Fernandez (17 points) and Taylor Groff (16 points). Zac Hoy contributed 12 points and went 3-for-6 from the free throw line. In fact, Messiah shot an impressive 73.1% (19-26) from the charity stripe. Bolen was 7-for-8 and Fernandez was 5-for-6. Lebanon Valley's Kevin Agnew led all scorers with 25.

The Falcons return to Commonwealth Conference action on Saturday when they travel to Elizabethtown College. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.