Williamsport, PA – Lycoming College ran off 12-straight points to start Wednesday's second-half against Messiah College, turning a one-point halftime advantage into an upset victory over the visiting No. 17 Falcons. Patrick Dougher led the charge for the Warriors, scoring all 13 of his points after the break.
 
The teams entered the second-half after a back-and-forth opening half that included 14 lead changes and six ties. Messiah shot exactly 50% through the first 20 minutes, with Lycoming nearly the same (16-33). A three-pointer by Scott Bolen—one of his three from behind the arc before halftime—had Messiah trailing by just a single point, 37-36, at the break.
 
With seven of the last eight meetings of these two teams being decided by nine points or less, one would expect the tight battle to continue through the second-half. But Lycoming came out of the gate in dominating fashion, holding Messiah scoreless for more than seven minutes while scoring 12-straight points of their own. Michael Rudy (eight) and Dougher combined for all of the Warriors points in that stretch, with Rudy also hitting two shots from deep.
 
Leading 51-41 with under 13 minute to play, Lycoming's defense continued to stifle the Falcons; pushing quickly off a rebound to a two-on-one situation, Malcolm Covington floated a pass to Kevin Anthony for a two-handed dunk. Anthony would finish with 16 points, joining Rudy (18 points) and Dougher in double-figures.
 
The Warriors twice pushed their lead to as many as 17 points, the first instance coming on a three-pointer by Dougher with 9:41 to play. Messiah would not cut their deficit to single digits until a free-throw by Josh Clippinger made it 80-71 with 38 seconds to play.
 
Though the Warriors' 44 second-half points proved too much for the Falcons to handle, Messiah was also done in by just 31% shooting in the final 20 minutes. That included a 3-11 performance (27%) from three-point range—a long cry from the 12 three-pointers Messiah hit against Lycoming in their first meeting.
 
Five players managed to score in double-figures for Messiah, with Brad Bolen, Scott Bolen, and David Fernandez each tallying 15 points. Zac Hoy and Christyan DeVan added 11 points and 10 points, respectively. Messiah did force 22 turnovers while only giving it away 12 times, but they were outrebounded 46-28, their worst differential of the season.
 
Messiah fell to 16-3 with the loss, including 10-3 in the Commonwealth Conference. Lycoming improved to 9-10 overall and 5-8 in the conference.
 
The Falcons will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when they travel to Arcadia University for a 3:00 p.m. tip.