News Release

READING, Pa. — Defending conference champion Messiah slipped past Albright 66-65 Saturday night in the Bollman Center. The loss drops Albright to 0-2 in conference play and 2-4 overall, while the Falcons raise their record to 4-1, 2-0.

The Lions had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, as Mike Boles went to the line for two free throws with the Lions trailing 66-64 and four tics on the clock. Boles made the first, but after a Messiah time out, saw the second shot rim out. After a scrum on the floor Messiah's Darryl Brown came away with the rebound and was fouled with 1.6 seconds left in the game. Brown missed both of his attempts from the stripe, but Matt Kieselowsky's 3/4 court heave as time expired was no good as the Falcons escaped with the win.

Albright started fast behind Albert Medoro, who had five points in a 7-0 game-opening run for the Lions. Messiah came back to take its first lead of the night at 12-11, and would hold the lead for the remainder of the opening stanza. The Lions hung around, not letting Messiah pull away as the Falcon lead bounced from two to six points for most of the half. A Greg Conroy jumper with five minutes to play in the half pulled Albright within three at 26-23, but Messiah outscored the Lions 9-4 to close out the half and led 35-27 at the break. Messiah's Matt Henninger led all scorers with 10 points at the half, while Conroy and Andre Murphy each had six to lead the Lions.

Bo Miller's lay up to open the second half scoring gave Messiah its largest lead of the night, 37-27, and the Falcons' lead was still nine, 40-31, 3:15 into the half. Albright responded with an 15-2 run, however, punctuated by a pair of Conroy three's, that saw the Lions take a 46-42 lead with 10:04 left in the contest. Messiah came back to tie the score at 51, but a Medoro three-point play put Albright back on top 54-51 with 7:15 to play. The Lions went cold from the floor, however, as they went scoreless over the next three minutes. Messiah took advantage, scoring nine straight points to hold a six point advantage, 60-54, with 4:21 left on the clock. A Matt Kieselowsky triple stopped the bleeding for the Lions, who would tie the score at 60 on a Medoro fast break lay up with 2:32 to play. Another Medoro bucket gave the Lions a 64-63 lead with just over a minute left, and the Lions missed a chance to extend the lead when Kieselowsky's three rimmed out on the next Albright possession. Brown was fouled on the rebound, made the first to tie the game at 64, then missed the second, only to come away with a long rebound. to retain possession. After a timeout, the Falcons' Ryan Miller was fouled and sank both free throws to give Messiah a 66-64 lead with 14 seconds left and set up the frantic finish.

Medoro led Albright with 16 points, followed by Conroy with 14. Kieselowsky had nine points and eight assists for the Lions. Henninger finished with 18 to lead Messiah, with Jared Yoder adding 16 for the Falcons.

Newspaper Box Score
Messiah vs Albright
12/2/06 8:00 pm at Bollman Center - Reading, PA
At Bollman Center - Reading, PA
MESSIAH 66, ALBRIGHT 65
MESSIAH (4-1, 2-0 Cwealth)
Matt Henninger 6-10 5-6 18; Jared Yoder 5-10 5-8 16; Bo Miller 4-6 1-5 9;
Jonathan Boyd 2-4 0-0 6; Ryan Witmer 1-4 3-4 5; Darryl Brown 0-2 5-10 5;
Jason Miller 0-4 4-4 4; Drew Sneeringer 1-4 0-0 3; Jon Stutzman 0-0 0-0 0;
Andy Hawk 0-1 0-0 0; Sean Lehman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-46 23-37 66.
ALBRIGHT (2-4, 0-2 Cwealth)
Albert Medoro 7-10 2-3 16; Greg Conroy 5-9 2-2 14; Matt Kieselowsky 2-10 4-6
9; Andre Murphy 2-6 1-1 6; Tom Murphy 3-7 0-0 6; Kyle Brudvig 2-3 0-0 4;
Michael Boles 0-2 4-6 4; Shane Harvey 2-3 0-1 4; Phil Hall 1-4 0-0 2; Matt
Bazsika 0-1 0-0 0; C.J. Jewell 0-1 0-0 0; Alex Schneider 0-2 0-2 0. Totals
24-58 13-21 65.
Messiah.......................   35   31  -   66
Albright......................   27   38  -   65
3-point goals-Messiah 5-19 (Jonathan Boyd 2-4; Jared Yoder 1-3; Matt
Henninger 1-4; Drew Sneeringer 1-3; Jason Miller 0-3; Darryl Brown 0-1; Ryan
Witmer 0-1), Albright 4-15 (Greg Conroy 2-5; Matt Kieselowsky 1-4; Andre
Murphy 1-2; Phil Hall 0-1; C.J. Jewell 0-1; Tom Murphy 0-1; Albert Medoro
0-1). Fouled out--Messiah-Ryan Witmer, Albright-Kyle Brudvig.
Rebounds-Messiah 41 (Matt Henninger 9), Albright 35 (Tom Murphy 7).
Assists-Messiah 12 (Jared Yoder 5), Albright 14 (Matt Kieselowsky 8). Total
fouls-Messiah 22, Albright 31. A-696