Lancaster Bible College senior Kevin Keltner scored his 1,000th point 1:21 into the game on Tuesday night against Lebanon Valley College. His shot from the top of the key hit nothing but net and gave him 1,001 points for his storied LBC career.

Unfortunately for LBC, that was the high point of the evening as LVC's Joe Meehan and Anthony Trautman each had 22 points to lead the Dutchmen past the Chargers, 89-72.

The Chargers came out firing, racing out to a 17-9 lead six minutes into the game. With 6:50 remaining in the opening half, sophomore Kody Koser hit a three-pointer to extend the Chargers' lead to 36-29. It would be their last bucket of the half.

The Dutchmen (5-3) ended the half on a 15-1 run spurred by Trautman's six points and Sean MacIntosh's four points. LVC scored 20 of their 44 first half points in the paint, a fact not lost on Chargers' Head Coach Pete Beers.

"We did a terrible job keeping them outside the paint," Beers said. "To a man, our toughness was challenged tonight and we came up short. I hate to admit it when an opposing team is tougher than us, but Lebanon Valley was tonight."

The Dutchmen kept their foot on the gas in the second half, extending their halftime lead to 15 points seven minutes into the second frame. Beers said LBC was getting their looks, but setting up the play was a different story.

"Execution wise we got basically whatever look we wanted," Beers said. "That wasn't the problem, it was our soft passes and not being tough with the ball. That really hurt us tonight."

The Chargers cut the lead to eight with 8:03 remaining, but three free throws, a lay-up and a three pointer later, the Dutchmen lead was back to 16 and the game was essentially over.

Despite the loss there were some positives for LBC. Erich Graybill continued his strong play, scoring 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Koser scored 20 points for the fifth time in seven games and Keltner finished with 16 points and four assists.

Beers said he continues to think the team has potential, but that they have to start doing some things better.

"We have to work on the little things to be able to beat a team like Lebanon Valley," Beers said. "We need to stop looking at who we are playing and look at ourselves. We can't control them, we can control us."

Notes:
-Prior to the game, the LBC Athletic Department honored the Westerlund family for their leadership in the school's Sponsor-a-Seat program that took place earlier this fall. The Westerlund's honored their son, Bill, who passed away earlier in 2010, by purchasing many of the seats that are now in the gym.




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