Grantham, PA - David Fernandez came up big for the Falcons in Saturday's 71-64 overtime win over Elizabethtown College.  Fernandez hit a fastbreak layup and followed it up with two free throws to give the Falcons the push they needed.  With the momentum on their side, Messiah's Brad Bolen sunk a quick jumper off the next in-bounds play to put the Falcons ahead 65-57, virutally putting the game away with two minutes to play.  Messiah maintained control through the final minutes of play and move to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference with the win.

"I thought this was an extremely hard fought game between two equally matched teams," head coach Rick Van Pelt said.  "This was a bit of a tail of two halves kind of game.  I thought we were able to control the game and make our shots in the first half and they did the better job of that in the second half.  Fortunately for us, we had the upper hand in overtime."

In fact, the Falcons outshot the Blue Jays 47.6% to 39.3% from the field and 50% to 27.3% from three in the first half.  Taylor Groff led Messiah with 15 points and nine rebounds.  On the other hand E-town was superior in the second half, shooting 40.9% from the field, 33.3% from three and 55.6% from the free throw line.  Comparatively, the Falcons shot 28.6% from the field, 30% from three, and only 33.3% from the charity stripe.  Elizabethtown's Tyler Simpkiss led all scorers in the second half with 14 points.

The Blue Jays took the early lead in the first half, but the Falcons bounced back to score nine unanswered points.  Messiah was unable to hold onto their momentary lead as E-town battled back to pull ahead 23-21 after a three from Tyler Simpkiss.  Taylor Groff responded in Messiah's next possession with his own three, igniting the Falcons and the crowd on-hand. 

With less than six minutes left in the half, the Falcons simply took over.  David Fernandez, Brad Bolen, and Zac Hoy hit five of six free throws, while Messiah's defense held the Blue Jays to single shots in their next four possessions.  Taylor Groff scored a layup and his third three of the half before Brad Bolen hit his second three to conclude a 12-0 scoring run for the Falcons.

Although Messiah held a 10 point lead at the halfway point, they certainly weren't out of the woods just yet. 

The Blue Jays battled through the first few minutes of the second half, outscoring the Falcons little by little.  With just under six minutes to play, E-town had tied the game 51-51.  The Blue Jays pulled ahead by four points after free throws from Simpkiss and a three by Ryan Borzager.  The Falcons responded with a Taylor Groff layup and held E-town to only one shot in their next possession.  On the miss, Messiah grabbed the defensive rebound and pushed the ball up the court.  Fernandez drove the lane, was fouled on the way, and went to the line.  After missing both free throws, the Falcons forced an E-town turnover to regain possession. 

With 3:23 to play, Christyan DeVan came up with a clutch layup to tie things at 55-55.  Amazingly, neither team was able to score the go-ahead bucket in the remaining minutes.  The Falcons missed three scoring opportunities while E-town missed five, sending the game into overtime.

In the extra period, the Falcons took control quickly. 

Following an E-town score, Bolen was fouled and hit both free throws to equalize things at 57-57.  With both teams in the double bonus, free throws were going to make or break the outcome of the game.  In Messiah's next possession Fernandez was fouled, giving him the opportunity to redeem himself from missing at the end of the second half.  Fernandez made both shots to put the Falcons on top.  And they never looked back.

Just a minute later, Fernandez would score on a fast break layup and make two free throws from an intentional foul call to give Messiah the six point lead.  In the next play, the Brad Bolen hit a jumper off the in-bounds play and swung all of the momentum to the Falcons.  Messiah would score four more points before and end a 14-0 scoring blitz before the Blue Jays found their first overtime points with 49 seconds to play.  With an 11 point cushion and less than a minute to play, the Falcons could taste the victory.  Despite only adding two more points to their tally, Messiah held strong for the 71-64 win.

"I'm really proud of our guys tonight," Van Pelt said.  "Taylor [Groff] was dominant with another double-double, David Fernandez was an impressive 11 for 17 from the foul line, and Christyan DeVan didn't turn the ball over in 35 minutes of play.  We did great things against a great team."

The Falcons will continue Commonwealth Conference play on Wednesday when they host Hood College.  Gametime is slated for 8 p.m.