Greensboro, NC – A fast start in the Commonwealth Conference? Check. A school record nine-straight wins to start the year? Check. A signature win on the road over a ranked opponent?
 
Also check.
 
Messiah College displayed impressive balance, patience, and a deft touch from behind the arc to win 80-72 at No. 17 Guilford College. The Falcons led by as many as 16 points in the second-half and even withstood a furious late charge by the Quakers for the victory. With the decision the Falcons move to a perfect 10-0.
 
Taylor Groff scored a team-high 17 points to lead five double-digit scorers for Messiah. He shot 7-16 from the field and was one of four Falcons to hit multiple shots from downtown. Scott Bolen finished with a season-high 15 points, hitting four of five attempts from deep.
 
The Falcons and Quakers traded runs throughout the afternoon, with Guilford starting quickly to go up 9-2. They led for most of the first-half before a contested finish by Zac Hoy in transition gave Messiah their first lead at 19-18 with 10:42 to play. After Trevor Hyatt hit two free-throws to put Guilford back on top, the Falcons went on a 12-1 run to take a 31-21 lead with 6:50 before halftime. All 12 points came from beyond the arc, with Hoy, Groff (two), and Aaron DeVan all connecting.
 
Moments later DeVan pushed the lead to 35-23 off a no-look feed from David Fernandez in transition.
 
But, as would be their custom throughout the game, Guilford fought back. Matt McCarthy nailed a three-pointer from the wing to start a quick 7-0 run, bringing the hosts to within 35-30 at the 4:01 mark.  Aaron DeVan stopped that streak with another three-pointer, but Trevor Hyatt soon scored five more of his 16 first-half points to lead the Quakers to within a single point (40-39) at the break.
 
Messiah came out of the break on fire, scoring 11 of the game's next 14 points to go up 51-43. After Zeb Richardson scored at the rim for Guilford, Scott Bolen drilled a three-pointer off a down screen on the left side for a 54-45 advantage. Geoff Boyle soon followed with baseline jumpers on consecutive possessions, putting the Falcons up 62-49 with 10:40 to play.
 
Playing with great poise, the Falcons continued to increase their lead. Leading 62-51, David Fernandez finished on the right side for two points and soon after drove in from the right side for a bucket and the foul; he finished the three-point-play with 8:41 to go to put Messiah up 67-51—their largest lead of the game.
 
But Guildford again fought back. Trailing by the same margin (69-53) with exactly 7:30 to play, the Quakers ran off 12-straight points to draw within 69-65. Jake Hopkins provided a momentous score in the middle of that run, finishing a layup by way of a free-throw offensive rebound by Zachary Houston.
 
With the game now tight and with under four minutes to play, Brad Bolen hit a big three-pointer from the top of the key to stop Guilford's run and put Messiah up 72-65. The bucket for Bolen was just his third of the game after he was held scoreless through halftime. Nevertheless, the bucket proved huge as Hyatt answered less than a minute later with a three of his own to again pull Guilford within four points at 72-68.
 
Scott Bolen followed by hitting one of two free-throws, but Hopkins then scored off another offensive rebound to make it a three point game, 73-70)

A Messiah turnover gave the ball back to Guilford with under two minutes to play, but Hyatt missed on a shot from downtown that would have evened the score. Geoff Boyle grabbed one of his team-high nine rebounds to secure possession for Messiah, who called timeout with 90 seconds to go.
 
Out of the timeout, Brad Bolen again came up huge for the visitors. Curling off a screen from the right wing Bolen drove to the rim and finished with a scoop off the left side of the backboard, putting Messiah on top 75-70.
 
Now again down by two possessions and with less than a minute to play, McCarthy—an 87 percent free-throw shooter—missed a pair at the line. The uncharacteristic misses proved costly as Scott Bolen hit a back-breaking three-pointer from the right corner with 30 seconds to play.
 
Guilford did cut their deficit to 78-72 with seven seconds remaining, but Messiah scored easy buckets before the horn went off to solidify the win.
 
The loss for Guilford (9-3) was their third-straight after they started 9-0. Trevor Hyatt led the Quakers with 24 points while Richardson (16), Hopkins (14), and McCarthy (12) also scored in double-digits. McCarthy shot just 2-10 from the floor, however, contributing to the Quakers' fourth-straight game of shooting less than 41 percent.
 
On the other side, the Falcons shot 50.8 percent from the floor and exactly 50 percent from three (12-24).
 
Messiah will look to stay unbeaten when they next play on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at home against Lycoming College. The Commonwealth match-up is set for 8:00 p.m. and will be shown on the Falcons' new GoMessiah.tv streaming portal.