Mccullough scored his first points on a jumper with 11:09 left in regulation that pushed the Messiah (19-9) lead to six, 49-43. He scored five times from the line during a 7-2 stretch that tied the game at 63-all with 2:04 to play, and nailed a huge jumper from the right baseline that double Messiah’s lead to four, 81-77 with 17 seconds left in overtime.
Six players reached double figures for the Falcons while the Crusaders placed three in double digits led by senior forward and Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Zach Straining, who totaled a career-high 29.
Messiah used a decisive edge in rebounds, 45-25, and second chance points, 22-4, to win a hard-fought, physical game.
Alvernia opened up its largest early lead with a 7-3 advantage through the first 3:21. Messiah’s Steve King, who buried a fading 25-footer to win the Commonwealth Championship, stroked his first of two from long range and added a layup for an 8-7 Messiah lead. Both teams held a three point advantage twice during the remainder of the half with Messiah clinging to a one point lead at the break, 26-25.
Alvernia held a 14-12 lead in points in the paint and the Falcons had only mustered three of their 22 second chance points at the break. Messiah’s leading scorer, Zach Wiernicki, who averages 16.8 points, totaled just five points before the break and picked up his third personal foul of the night on, oddly enough, an offensive rebound by Alvernia freshman, Tyrone Bradley.
Both teams shot poorly from the arc in the opening half. Messiah hit two, both from King, in 11 attempts while the Crusaders hit just once in nine attempts. Messiah’s advantage on the boards was only 18-17 at the break as both teams seemed content with one shot to deny any fast break offense.
Junior forward Jared Yoder asserted himself on the block with Wiernicki still sitting out in foul trouble early in the second. Messiah built a five point lead behind four from Yoder and two from Dan Snyder in the first two minutes of the second half. The lead was down to three with 15:30 to play before a pair of King free throws and a long 3 from freshman reserve Drew Sneeringer gave the Falcons the largest lead of the night, an eight point edge, 43-35 with 14:35 on the clock.
Alvernia senior Lamar Brickus scored two of his 10 to stop the mini run, but Yoder answered with another post move to reestablish the eight point lead. Alvernia junior Garrett Etzel hit his only 3 of the night to cut the gap to five, and a 3-point play from Straining had Alvernia within four at the 11:22 mark.
Mccullough’s first bucket ensued and Alvernia answered with a free throw from junior Ryan Finger. Finger followed with a steal and a layup on the inbounds and Alvernia was back within three, 49-46 with 10:36 to play.
Neither team could put anything together over the next two minutes until Straining’s layup at 8:18 cut the gap to one. Straining missed a chance to tie the game at 49 with a free throw, but after a Snyder miss on the other end, Brickus pushed the tempo and found a cutting Chris Talley who gave Alvernia its first lead, 50-49 since it was up 23-22 late in the first.
The lead exchanged hands four times with Talley scoring four straight to give the Crusaders a 58-54 lead with 4:40 left in regulation. Wiernicki cut the lead in half with a second chance layup, but Straining’s 3-point play gave Alvernia a five point lead with 3:13 on the clock.
Mccullough was fouled on a 3 from the right elbow and calmly sank all three to cut the gap to two. Etzel followed with a pair from the stripe, but there was Mccullough again at the line sinking two more making it 63-61 Alvernia with 2:23 left in regulation.
Matt Henninger stole the ball on the perimeter and Wiernicki converted a 3-point play on the other end to swing the lead back to Messiah. Straining hit a pair for the line, but Wiernicki answered. Talley’s layup and free throw coming out of a timeout gave Alvernia a two point lead at 1:06 and Yoder and Brickus traded single free throws to leave Alvernia up 69-67 with 37 ticks to go.
Brown missed a short jumper, but Wiernicki emerged from a pile of hands under the hoop to drop in layup that tied the score with 18 seconds on the clock. Alvernia called timeout with 13 ticks left, but Mike Brock’s fadeaway jumper from just outside the lane rang out as the horn sounded forcing overtime.
Messiah won the tip and scored as Mccullough assisted Brown underneath to open the extra frame. Mccullough hit two of three free throws at 3:31 for a three point lead that Alvernia trimmed to two three times, the last one on Straining’s layup with 47 seconds left.
Alvernia played solid defense on Messiah’s next possession, but Mccullough had just what the Falcons needed as his jumper found nothing but net with 17 ticks left to push the lead to four. Brickus turned the ball over trying to push it up the right side and Mccullough’s two free throws with nine seconds left were the final points as the Falcons advanced.
Messiah 83, Alvernia 77 (OT)
BOX" class="red" rel=nofollow>http://athletics.alvernia.edu/Sports/mbball/2006/060303mbbox.asp">BOX SCORE