Men's Basketball Dealt Tough 95-87 Loss By No. 17 Messiah

(box score)

Widener battled hard and gave 17th-ranked Messiah all it could handle, but just came up short in a 95-87 Commonwealth Conference loss at Schwartz Center.

Widener (8-8, 2-7 CC) was down as many as 15 points in the first half and 73-61 with 6:17 left. That was when it really got going, using a 13-4 run over three minutes to close to 77-74 with 3:17 left. Junior Greg Lawson (Mount Holly, NJ) scored eight points in the spurt and senior Andrew Radomicki (Media, PA) capped it with a huge 3-pointer.

But from that point forward, Messiah got points on eight straight possessions to begin retaking control. Christyan DeVan's 3-pointer with 2:19 to play gave the Falcons an 82-76 lead and Brad Bolen's two free throws with 1:54 left made it 84-77.

Sophomore David Nicholson (Odenton, MD) made two free throws with 1:28 remaining to bring Widener within 87-81 before Bolen iced the game on the next two possessions. He had an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:15 left and added a reverse dunk off a steal for a 92-81 contest with 64 seconds to play.

Lawson matched his career high with 23 points, also accomplished December 7 vs. Lebanon Valley, on 8-of-9 shooting to go with eight rebounds. Junior Dillon Fields (Medford, NJ) scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds, senior Rob McPherson (Bowie, MD) poured in 13 points and Nicholson added 10 for the Pride, who shot 56 percent (15-of-27) from the floor in the second half and 51 percent (31-of-61) overall.

Bolen poured in 33 points on 12-of-18 shooting, David Fernandez had 27 and 10 rebounds with Taylor Groff adding 12 points for the Falcons (14-1, 8-1), who shot a blistering 69 percent (20-of-29) in the second half and 62 percent (36-of-58) overall.

Widener opens the second half of league play Saturday at Albright, starting at 4:00 pm.

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