The Messiah College Falcons improved to 4-0 on the year Monday evening defeating the Gettysburg College Bullets (1-3) 67-63.
Zack Wiernicki (Vernon, NY) led the Falcons in a dominating performance putting up 19 points, while teammates Quinn McCullough (Glen Rock, PA) and Dave Carter (Warrenton, VA) added 14 and 12 respectively. Steve King also helped Messiah pulling down a game high 14 rebounds. For the Bullets it was Mike Spadafora (Richboro, PA) scoring a team high 17 points and Erik Fromm (Swedesboro, NJ) grabbing 8 boards for Gettysburg. Fromm also added 13 points while Ryan Page (Laurel, MD) had 11.
Gettysburg used a 5 for 8 first half 3 point shooting effort to build a slight 1 point lead at the break. But in the second half the Falcon defense turned up the pressure and forced the Bullets into just 28 percent shooting from the floor including just 3 for 14 beyond the arc. Messiah was down as many as 7 in the second half before pulling even mid way through.
With 1:30 left in the game, Bullet guard Ryan Page knocked down a three-pointer cutting the Falcon lead to just 2. But Messiah was able to convert on 9 of 10 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
The Falcons return to action on Wednesday when they travel up to Huntingdon, PA where they face-off against the Eagles of Juniata College in a 7:30 tip-off. Messiah will next return home to Brubaker Auditorium December 11th when Eastern comes to Grantham. That game is slated to start at 8pm.