Messiah College Falcons

Located in Grantham, PA... Messiah College's basketball program continues to be on the rise. After winning the MAC tournament and gaining the first NCAA bid in school history last year, Messiah returns this time as a Pool C addition. After going 13-1 in the MAC Commonwealth and 19-6 overall.

Likely Starters --
PG - Jason Miller. Soph 5'11" (6.2 ppg, solid, strong pg)
G - Mat Henninger. Senior  6'3" (15.2 ppg, 50% from 3, 6.3 rpg)
G/F - Daryl Brown. Junior  6'3" (8.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg)
F - Ryan Witmer. Soph 6'4" (6.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
F - Jared Yoder. Senior 6'6" (14.5 ppg, 7 rpg) - Commonwealth Player of the Year

Reserves --
PG - Drew Sneeringer. Soph  5'10" (5 ppg)
G - Johnathan Boyd. Junior  5'11" (6.1 ppg, 45% from 3)
F - Andy Hawk. Fresh  6'5" (5 ppg, 52% from 3)

Messiah does not put up a ton of points. When their shooters are in the game they have the ability to light up the scoreboard but get it done on the defensive end of the floor where they limit their opponents to 60 ppg compared to Messiah's 71. Messiah also relies on their rebounding to win games, outrebounding their oppenents by 8+ per game.

The key to a Messiah College win is team play and limit turnovers. Yoder is tough because when guarded one on one he scores consistantly and when doubled he passes out of the post better than any big I have seen in a while. All of the players are unselfish and will make the extra pass. Henninger, Boyd, Hawk, Sneeringer can shoot the 3 very well. As a team they shoot nearly 40% from 3.

Rick Van Pelt, Messiah's coach has done a tremendous job of getting his players ready for games. Messiah's offensive sets are solid and they get the right people the ball in the right situations.

Their weakness may be the ability to close out tight games which is what the tournament is all about. At times the guards may struggle with pressure (young guard play) and vocal leadership is something that lacks at times.

Very good team. Has the ability to make a short run in the tourney (maybe Sweet 16 if they play their game), but not an elite 8 team. Tough first game against Catholic. Program on the rise... but loss of Yoder and Henninger could hurt next year.

91-84 in double overtime. It has been said that basketball is a game of runs and so it was last night in Grantham. The game opened back and forth with Henninger and Thomas going blow for blow. Both players had BIG first halfs with Henninger posting 17 at the break and Thomas dropping 14. Messiah took a 7 point lead into half-time. Widener sat in a zone all of the first half and halfway through the second to limit Jared Yoder's touches. They collapsed on him everytime he touched the ball to force a kickout. That led to Messiah shooting 18 threes in the first half and connecting on 7 of them.

The beginning of the second half saw Messiah continuing their shooting barage. Boyd got hot and knocked down a few threes to bring Widener out of the zone and give Messiah a 13+ point lead half way through the second half. Messiah held a 6 point lead with a minute remaining...

This is where Messiah's youth came out. With a minute left Widener created/was given three straight turnovers from Messiah's young guards. A poor long pass was intercepted then Messiah failed to spread out the zone press and turned the ball over 2 more times leading to Widner baskets. Somehow is was a three point game with 10 seconds left. Essien Ford hit a HUGE, contested three off of a down screen to tie the game and MEssiah was unable to score.

Yoder fouls out in the first overtime. Widener looks like it has the game won. Up 4 with less than a minute. Scrum on the floor that Messiah somehow comes up with and finds an open Henninger in the corner for 3. Widerner guard hits 1 of 2 from the line. Henninger misses a three but Daryl Brown comes up with the ball and penetrates with 7 seconds remaining, misses a contested lay-up with about 4 on the clock and follows his own miss with a tough left handed tip in. Widener misses a long shot at the buzzer.

Widener came out and dominated the second overtime. Ford and Thomas came to play. Also Neyer (spelling) Miller had a big game for the Pride.

Widener travels to Juniata for the MAC playoff championship and automatic bid on the line. Hopefully Messiah is a Pool C recipient. With the season they had, they deserve a bid. Anytime a team goes 13-1 in any conference (excet maybe the PAC), they deserve some consideration.

Anyone else at the game to touch on anything I missed? What happened at the Juniata / Susquehanna game?

What a game. Will comment more in the morning

I love Jared Yoder.

I would love to see an SU vs. Messiah final. Both teams have to win TOUGH games before that happens though.

Does Messiah get an at large bid if they were to lose???

Playoffs are set.

Messiah beat Albright in the first round of conference playoffs last year to sweep the season series 3-0. It is tough to beat a team 3 times in a year. Can Messiah do it to Widener this year or is Widener going to gain their revenge sfter last year's heart breaking conference finals loss in Chester. Will they get the last laugh at Steve King as they shake hands?

Susquehanna travels to play at Juniata. The first time they met in Selingsgrove, the Crusaders came out with a 2 point W. More recently in the middle of nowhere, Juniata came out victorious by the tune of 15. The big question in this game is... Will Mr. Robinson suit up for the Crusaders? It has been obvious they are a different team with him in the lineup. Will Juniata win their first playoff game in ages before they leave the MASCAC or will it be Susquehanna's win before they leave? This game could create a rivalry headed into the Landmark conference.

My predictions...

Messiah 64 - Widener 59
Susquehanna 73 - Juniata 70

Messiah hosting Susquehanna at Grantham.... hopefully with Mr. Robinson in the lineup so I can finally get a chance to see this kid play.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Curely would not be a bad choice. But Van Pelt has had Messiah overachieve the last 3 years. He deserves it now. The past 2 years have seen the coach of the year go to the first place team and not only is Messiah in first place, but has pretty much clinched first with 3 games left.

I agree with your comment with Susquehanna. I know if I were playing, I would not want to draw SU with Robinson in the first round or the championship round. They definitely have the capability of knocking anyone off... with or without him. They are a dangerous team with Robinson.  I just think they will have a tough time getting in IF he does not some back in time for the regular season. I am not saying they will not get in, just saying it will not be easy.

Let us switch the focus now from players to coaches. If Rick Van Pelt does not get coach of the year this year.... some people should get slapped. Somehow the last 2 years he did not get the nod, even though he truly deserved both of them. I believe Ferry got it 2 years ago and DoooDUH somehow got it last year. Give the man some credit when credit is due. 3 years ago Messiah was picked to finish 6 or 7 in the league and finished tied for second. Last year they were picked to finish 5th and finished 2 in regular season and won the tournament. This year they are picked 4th and are going to win the regular season. Give the man some respect.

I can only think of the analogy "Two ships passing in the night." when the voters did not see him as coach of the year before.

By the way... does anyone know if that is Steve King coaching for Messiah? The same Steve King who made the shot at Widener to win the conference? I thought I saw him on the bench and did not know if he is hurt and had a 7th year of eligibility like Casey Stitzel did at Widener or if he stayed around to coach. What is he doing with himself these days? Does he still athletic tape his whole body when he coaches?

LVC is still one game behind Susquehanna and Widener.
Messiah -  10-1
Juniata-     7-4
Susq.-        6-5
Widener-    6-5
LVC-           5-6
The rest does not matter.

I was not impressed with Susquehanna last night. They made a few runs, but Messiah was too much for them in Grantham. Cuff was not impressive at all. Hit 2 jump shots early that were tough and contested, but I was expecting a much more rounded game out of him. All he can do is shoot. When Messiah decided to pressure him and make him put the ball on the floor he was out of his comfort zone and did not do much of anything. The player I was impressed with is Patch ( I think that was his name). The thin G/F. He is a good athlete.

Addressing Majors being the best defender in the league....
   Good defender.... No doubt about it.  Best defender.... No way. He does have quick hands, but he reaches and gambles too much to be a best defender in the league. For the amount of steals he got or created (4), he also was the cause of multiple layups for Messiah when he reached and got beat.

When Yoder got in foul trouble early in the second half, Susquehanna had a chance. When he came back in, the game was over. That is the beautiful thing about Henninger and Yoder. Henninger struggles, Yoder puts in 20. Yoder struggles, Henninger puts in 20. But enough about those 2.... Messiah just flat out plays good team basketball. Look at the stats.... 7 Falcons took 5 or more shots. They know how to share the ball.

Was disapointed not to see Robinson. For Susquehanna's cause, I hope he is able to come back soon because they could have a tough time making playoffs without him.

I had no intentions of disrespecting Marcinek. I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and as a man. I think he is great for their program and a great recruiter. I only wanted to make a point that maybe Susquehanna does not have the best defender and 2 best overall players. I apologize if I came across the wrong way with my sarcasm.

You mean Susquehanna is going to allow Marcinek to come back and coach again? I mean come on....

According to our faithful poster and friend... They have the 2 best overall players in the conference AND they have the best defender in the conference.
Yet they are 6-4 in the conference. Man.... their other 2 starters and the bench must be garbage. I hope this Marcinek Jr. kid can really play.

Right susquejamma?

LVC is actually 2 games behind the 2nd place teams right now.

Messiah                      9-1
Juniata                        6-4
Susquehanna             6-4
Widener                      6-4
LVC                             4-6

The rest are pretty much finished except for the chance to knock off a few potential playoff teams in the last 4 games... unless Etown stays hot and wins 4 in a row to possibly get in.... don't put it past Schlosser's boys to do that, although they will have to knock off Juniata, Widener, and Messiah to do it... that is not an easy road ahead.

As for games remaining.....
Messiah still has.... Susquehanna, @ Moravian, Etown, Widener
Juniata still has... @ Etown, LVC, Susquehanna, @ Albright
Susquehanna has... @ Messiah, Albright, @ Juniata, @LVC
Widener has... @ Albright, Etown, Moravian, @ Messiah
LVC has... Moravian, @ Juniata, Albright, Susquehanna

The way I see it... Messiah is already in no matter what. If they win tonight, I believe they clinch #1 seed. I could be wrong on that though.  Out of the other 4, I think Widener has the easiest remaining games. None of them are easy, but if you look at win/loss record. Susquehanna has the toughest remaining schedule and plays three out of the last 4 away.

My predictions for the playoff seeds...
1-  Messiah
2- Widener
3- Susquehanna
4- Juniata

Susquehanna's 2 last games are huge, not only for them but for the 2 teams they are playing (Juniata and LVC). Could be a dog fight for that last playoff spot if someone other than Curran and Bert_____ can start scoring (other than an occasional 30 pt. outburst) for LVC.

I saw Robinson was not in the line-up again last night. Is he injured again? Susquehanna needs him to be healthy to get that playoff spot.

Juniata is a solid team. That Cannon kid is tough. It was a nice run, although it had to end sometime. Now the key for the Falcons is rebounding and playing a tough Albright team on Saturday.

D. 2 Mansfield    17 pts. 6 boards, 4 assists
Widner    17 pts.  10 boards  6 assists
LVC (1 time) 27 pts. 10 boards 3 assists
Juniata (tied for 4th in Commonwealth) 27 pts. 10 boards