FREDERICK, Md. – The No. 18 Men's Basketball team hits 19 triples and boasted a 30-point lead by halftime to close business early on conference foe Messiah 106-73 and clinch the No. 1 seed for the first time in program history as Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth regular season champions.
Inside the Box Score
Karron Mallory (Manchester, Pa./Northeastern) scores a career-high 25 points and hits six triples.
Kullen Robinson (Alexandria, Va./Alexandria City) goes 10-for-16 from the field and scores 25 points of his own.
Jevon Yarbrough (Hagerstown, Md./Williamsport) dishes 10 assists on a quiet scoring afternoon.
How it Happened
The Blazers dominated in the first half fueled by a 55-percent clip from the field and 50 percent from three. From the jump the intensity was there to prove this game as a get right game after falling in conference play for the first time last time out against Albright.
Mallory and Robinson stole the show at the start of the game combining for all of Hood's first 15 points,
Troy Fulton (Denver, N.C./Lincoln Charter) would get his time on stage by hitting three-straight triples before the microphone was handed back to Mallory to hit two more. All Mallory's points would come in the first half and cause this game to be a runaway only 15 minutes in.
The grease became too hot for the Falcons as 11 turnovers and 36 percent from the field in the first half would lead to a 60-30 advantage for the Blazers. The matchup would also see good minutes from Hood depth like
Jake Bolyn (Pottstown, Pa./Perkiomen) and
Jake Dallas (York, Pa./York Catholic) that is much needed heading into win or go home territory.
"Thought we bounced back from our first conference loss well tonight," said head coach
Chad Dickman. "We got nice contributions from all our guys and we moved the ball better than we have been recently. Jevon didn't have his usual scoring night, but he did a nice job not forcing the issue and getting teammates wide open shots."
"Defensively, we improved on some things that we've been emphasizing lately, but we still have to take it to another level if we want to be a legitimate title contender."
"It takes a really strong, consistent team to win our conference, and I'm really proud of what this group's done so far. But, they know we have our sights set on bigger accomplishments, so we just have to keep grinding."
For the Opponent
Caleb Lyles leads the Falcons with 24 points.
Avery Kopcha hit five triples on the afternoon.
Analysis
Messiah turned the ball over 25 times to Hood's nine. Hood scored 36 of their points post-turnover.
The Blazers had 11 different scorers, nine of them attempting more than five shots.
Notes
Hood improves to 21-3, 12-1 in the MACC and claims sole possession of the top spot.
Messiah falls to 4-20, winless in conference play 0-13.
Hood's 12-1 conference record is a program best since the 2006-07 season before joining the MACC, the 20
th win matches their highest since the 2021-22 season.
Up Next
Hood will host the MAC Commonwealth semifinal game on Wednesday, February 25 as the No. 1 seed. Time and opponent are to be determined as York and Alvernia will battle for the No. 3 seed. The team that falls to the No. 4 seed will take on the Blazers in Woodsboro Bank Arena. Stay tuned on @hoodblazers on X and Instagram and/or on hoodathletics.com for further details.
