The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team did not allow Valley Forge Christian College to make a single three-pointer on Thursday night. However, the Patriots didn't need the three-point shot, they just fed the ball inside and got easy buckets all night. The Patriots scored 48 of their 64 points in the paint and used two big scoring runs at the beginning of each half to beat the Chargers, 64-45 in Phoenixville, Pa.

The Patriots (17-4) opened the game on a 12-2 run, highlighted by a thunderous Latrell Alford alley-oop from Steve Sims. The Chargers (6-10) fought back to trail by seven midway through the first half. The teams exchanged buckets the rest of the way with the Patriots taking a 31-20 lead into halftime.

The second half began the way the first half did with the Chargers struggling to find the basket and Valley Forge Christian scoring easy buckets in the paint. Madison Warfel scored the first bucket for LBC at the 12:35 mark of the second half, but by that time, the Patriots had a comfortable 20-point lead.

"Valley did a great job of not letting us establish our offense," Chargers' Head Coach Pete Beers said. "We didn't help ourselves by not making shots we normally knock down."

Valley Forge Christian continued to extend their lead as the game got chippy midway through the second half. Alford's free throws at the 3:05 mark gave the Patriots their biggest lead, 62-36.

The LBC bench played well in the final minutes, but the damage was done and the Patriots had defeated the Chargers for the 10th straight time.

"We lacked composure today and [Valley Forge Christian] exploited it," Beers said.

With a team with so much firepower like the Patriots, Beers said he was happy the Chargers held them to just 65 points, but that their second and third chances did LBC in.

"Our initial defense was good, it was their second and third looks that killed us," Beers said. "They beat us on the boards and we have to do a better job of only giving teams one look when they are on offense."

Eric Nulf led LBC with nine points and five rebounds, while Kody Koser, facing his old team for the first time, had seven points and five boards.

The Patriots' Justin Kinsey led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor.

The Chargers shot just 28 percent from the field, including 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.

LBC is back in action on Monday when they take on Lancaster County neighbor Elizabethtown College at 8:00 p.m. in Elizabethtown.