GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Arcadia University men's basketball team picked up its sixth win of the season, the first in conference play, with a 73-68 triumph over Messiah Saturday afternoon in Alumni Gymnasium. The win moves to Knights to 6-2 and 1-1 in the conference, while Messiah falls to 3-4 and 0-2 in the MAC Commonwealth. John Landro returned to the Knight's lineup to lead all scorers with 22 points.
 
It would be freshman Phil Pierfy who opened the scoring with a layup 20 seconds into the contest. Messiah, however responded with a 9-0 run sparked by a pair of Geoff Boyle layups. Senior Alex Cohen tied the game at 17 with a jumper at the 9:06 mark that opened an 8-0 run for the Knights to propel them to a 23-17 advantage with six and a half minutes left in the opening half. The back-and-forth action continued as the Falcons responded with a 7-0 run that included six points in the paint to regain a 24-23 advantage with just over four minutes left in the stanza.
 
Landro capped a 10-0 spurt that spanned nearly three minutes with a pair of free throws to give the Scarlet and Grey a 33-24 lead with less than a minute to play. Boyle would add a pair of free throws before Pierfy capped the half's scoring with a free throw of his own to send the Knights to the break with a 34-26 lead.
 
Pierfy and Landro led all scorers with nine points apiece. The Scarlet and Grey shot 48.3% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes . The Falcons were led by Boyle's eight points in the half; as a team Messiah shot 32.1%.
 
Arcadia was able to hold its lead for nearly half of second frame, as Landro opened the stanza with a free throw to open a nine-point margin. The Falcons claimed the lead in the midst of an 8-0 run when Matt Hess laid in two points for a 44-42 lead with just over 10 minutes to go.
 
Josh Scott instantly tied the game with a jumper before Hess pushed Messiah back in front by a pair, only to have Cohen retie the contest at 46 with eight and a half minutes to go. Messiah led by as many as five in the second half when Josh Clippinger used a layup to gain a 54-49 advantage in favor of the visitors with 6:14 left in the contest.
 
Back-to-back layups from Pierfy tied the contest at 56 with just under five minutes to go, and Landro would tie the game again at 61 with a triple a minute and a half later. Arcadia would score 10 of the game's final 12 points to seal the win on the heels of eight free throws.
 
Landro scored 13 second-half points to lead all scorers. The Scarlet and Grey shot 43.3% from the field in the stanza including 2 of 5 from distance.
 
Landro was one of four Knights to reach double-figures along with 16 points from Pierfy, 13 from Cohen and 10 from Kelley.
 
Messiah was led by Boyle and Luke Cable with 15 points each, along with 10 from Clippinger.
 
The Knights return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Lycoming.