FREDERICK, Md. - The Hood College men's basketball team used a 24-8 run in the second half to pull away from Messiah for a 95-70 victory in Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth action. 

Inside the Box Score 

• Mason Wang went 8-for-13 shooting to score a game-high 27 points. He hit three 3-pointers, went 8-for-9 at the free throw line and dished out five assists. 
• Evan Wang scored 17 points on 7-for-10 from the field with two 3-pointers. He passed Michael Riley on the Blazers' all-time scoring list and ended the night with 1,067 points. 
• Soren Almquist finished with a career-high 11 points, hitting all four of his field goal attempts. 
• Trumaine Strickland had nine rebounds in just 17 minutes off the bench. 

How it Happened

• Hood led 46-36 at the half and used an 8-2 run to take a 54-38 lead on a Ryan Hollwedel 3-pointer with 18:12 to go. The Falcons cut the deficit to 10 and the Blazers lead fluctuated between 10 and 14 points over the next five minutes. 
• Evan Parker pulled Messiah within 64-54 with 12:02 remaining. Neither team scored again until Evan Wang was fouled while making a layup and made the and-one at 10:36 to spark Hood's run. The Wang twins combined for 14 points in the stretch and the Blazers hit 9-for-10 from the field over a span of five minutes. Evan Wang knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:51 to play to make it 88-62. Messiah never pulled within 18 points the rest of the way. 
• In the first half, a 3-pointer by Parker made it 33-27 in favor of the Blazers, but Mason Wang scored eight points during a 13-4 run over the next 2:41 as Hood built a 46-31 edge with 1:42 to play in the period. Messiah managed to score the final five points of the half to head to the locker room trailing by 10. 

Analysis

• The Blazers shot 53 percent in the contest, while an icy second half dropped Messiah to 42 percent for the game. 
• Hood was 14-for-34 from 3-point range (41 percent). The Falcons finished 9-of-22. 
• The Blazers outrebounded Messiah 34-27. 
• Hood committed only 12 turnovers in the game and used 12 steals to generate 17 Falcon turnovers. The result was a 28-11 advantage in points off turnovers. 

For the Opponent

• Parker paced Messiah with 18 points on 6-of-8 from 3-point range. 
• Arkese Claiborne scored 16 points and grabbed seven boards. 
• Tyler Penley added a dozen points and Will Young IV scored 11. 
• Caleb Light led all players with six assists. 

Notes

• Hood improved to 7-1 in the MAC Commonwealth and 10-5 overall. Messiah slipped to 4-9 and 2-5. 
• The fast start in conference play is the Blazers' best since opening the 2009-10 season 7-1 in the Capital Athletic Conference. 

Up Next
Hood heads to Widener on January 22 for a 3 p.m. tip off.