The contest opened up as a back-and-forth affair, as the teams traded buckets for the first four minutes. Albright led 8-6 after a pair of Tom Murphy free throws with 15:48 left in the half. Messiah tied the score at eight, then put together a 9-2 run to take a seven-point lead, 17-10, with just over 12 minutes left before the break. A three from Andy Winebrenner stopped Messiah's run momentarily, but the Falcons answered with seven unanswered points, capped by a Dan Snyder three, to push their lead to double-figures, 24-13, with 8:36 remaining. Albright got within six on a Greg Conroy triple, but Messiah pushed the lead back to double-digits, and would take a 36-25 lead to the locker room at the half.
Jared Yoder opened the second half with a bucket to give the Falcons their largest lead of the night at 38-25. Albright chipped away at the deficit, getting five straight points from Trevor Deeter to pull within seven, 39-32, with 14:24 left in the contest. The Lions got the lead down to four, 43-39, three minutes later on a Murphy three-ball, but Messiah got two straight buckets to extend the lead back to eight. The Falcon lead went between five and eight points for the next five minutes, until a Deeter lay-up made the score 57-54 with 6:25 on the clock. Albright was still down three after a Lee Walter free throw put the score at 60-57 with 3:31 left in the game. Yoder hit a pair of free throws for Messiah with just over three minutes left, and neither team would score for the next two minutes until a Zach Wiernicki jumper gave Messiah a seven point edge, 64-57, with 50 seconds to play. The Lions got within four twice in the final minute, but Messiah was 5-6 from the line down the stretch to clinch the win. The Falcons were 19-22 from the line in the second half after making just 1-6 in the opening 20 minutes.
Trevor Deeter led all scorers in the game with 23 points and also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Murphy and Winebrenner each finished with 11 points, with Winebrenner hitting all four of his field goal attempts, including a 3-3 effort from long distance. Yoder had 17 points to lead Messiah, while Snyder finished with 15 and Wiernicki 13.
Newspaper Box Score Messiah vs Albright 2/4/06 8:00 p.m. at Bollman Center - Reading, PA At Bollman Center - Reading, PA MESSIAH 69, ALBRIGHT 62 MESSIAH (14-7, 7-3) Jared Yoder 7-7 2-2 17; Dan Snyder 3-5 7-12 15; Zach Wiernicki 5-16 3-4 13; Quinn Mccullough 2-11 4-6 8; Darryl Brown 3-5 0-0 6; Matt Henninger 2-6 2-2 6; Steve King 1-2 0-0 2; Drew Sneeringer 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 23-54 20-28 69. ALBRIGHT (13-7, 6-4) Trevor Deeter 9-13 5-9 23; Andy Winebrenner 4-4 0-0 11; Tom Murphy 3-5 4-4 11; Matt Kieselowsky 3-16 0-0 6; Lee Walter 2-3 1-2 5; Greg Conroy 1-4 0-0 3; Mike Boles 1-1 0-0 2; Albert Medoro 0-0 1-2 1; Derek Kehoe 0-0 0-0 0; Kyle Brudvig 0-1 0-0 0; Taylor Steltz 0-7 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 11-17 62. Messiah....................... 36 33 - 69 Albright...................... 25 37 - 62 3-point goals-Messiah 3-15 (Dan Snyder 2-2; Jared Yoder 1-1; Quinn Mccullough 0-6; Matt Henninger 0-2; Drew Sneeringer 0-2; Zach Wiernicki 0-2), Albright 5-15 (Andy Winebrenner 3-3; Greg Conroy 1-2; Tom Murphy 1-2; Taylor Steltz 0-1; Matt Kieselowsky 0-7). Fouled out--Messiah-None, Albright-None. Rebounds-Messiah 33 (Dan Snyder 8), Albright 35 (Trevor Deeter 11). Assists-Messiah 8 (Dan Snyder 2; Quinn Mccullough 2; Matt Henninger 2), Albright 14 (Matt Kieselowsky 4). Total fouls-Messiah 15, Albright 21. A-1287