(boxscore)

2/16/08 -- Junior Nyere Miller (Washington, DC) scored 19 points and sophomore Bobby Edmunds (Linwood, NJ) sparked the decisive run for Widener, which grabbed sole possession of second place in the Commonwealth Conference with a 75-62 victory at Messiah in Grantham, PA.

Drew Sneeringer hit two free throws with 6:26 left to give the Falcons a 59-56 lead. But the Pride rattled off 11 straight points to open a 67-59 cushion with 2:20 remaining and were never headed, thanks to Edmunds' five points.

Edmunds began the spurt on a 3-pointer for a 59-59 tie and added a fast-break layup with 5:19 left and a 61-59 cushion. Miller nailed two free throws with 3:10 to play for a 63-59 lead and junior Charles Jones (Philadelphia, PA) added a steal and layup with 2:55 remaining and a six-point cushion.

Sophomore Jamarr Johnson (Pittsgrove, NJ) added the exclamation point for Widener (19-4, 5-3 CC) to end the run. After an offensive foul by Messiah's Darryl Brown, Johnson jammed home an emphatic dunk for the 67-59 margin.

Jamie Yoder nailed a 3-pointer with two minutes left to bring Messiah within 67-62, the home team's only basket in the last 6:58. Miller's layup with 1:29 to play made it a seven-point game to ice it.

Miller shot 6-of-14 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the line over 38 minutes. Edmunds had 15 points and five steals with Jones scoring 14 points.

Widener shot 56 percent (14-of-25) from the floor in the second half and 51 percent (26-of-51) overall. This helped the Pride notch their first sweep of the Falcons since 2004.

Andy Hawk poured in 16 points, Brown had 11 and seven rebounds with Kyle Snyder scoring 10 points for Messiah (15-8, 4-4), which shot 39 percent (22-of-57) overall.

Widener sits one game behind first-place Lycoming (6-2) and one game ahead of third-place Messiah and Albright (4-4).

The Pride on Tuesday visit Albright at 8:00 pm. Widener can clinch a berth in the conference tournament with a win or a Lebanon Valley loss against Messiah.