The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team has upset Valley Forge Christian at The Pit before, so why wouldn't it have been possible the Chargers could do it Thursday? It turns out the host Patriots are tired of seeing that movie.

Valley Forge Christian withstood the Chargers early second half pressure and defeated LBC, 63-43, Thursday night in Phoenixville, Pa. The Patriots' Mike Stum led the way with 14 points and 13 boards as the Patriots beat the Chargers for the 12th time in 13 tries.

Though they lost for the fifth straight time, Chargers' Head Coach Pete Beers was happy with the team's effort.

"I thought we played hard," Beers said. "The score doesn't reflect how close the game actually was and I think we did some nice things."

The problem, as it has been all year, was all of the LBC turnovers. The Chargers [6-18, 4-9 NEAC] turned the ball over 26 times on Thursday which led to 30 Valley Forge Christian points

"We need to keep our composure on offense and defense," Beers said. "The turnovers hurt us again, especially early in the second half after we had made a run to close the gap to one."

That early run saw the Chargers turn a seven-point halftime deficit, 30-23, into a one-point game at 30-29 with 18:33 left to play. Three turnovers and an offensive foul later however, the Chargers trailed by 12 at, 41-29, with 14:38 to play. LBC would cut the Patriots' lead to seven after a Darrell Epps' 3-pointer with 11:38 to play, but would not get closer.

Epps and senior Madison Warfel each had nine points to lead the Chargers. Benjamin Scott added four points and 10 rebounds for LBC.

"Valley's defense was just a little better than ours," Beers said. "It was sort of an ugly game, but we didn't attack the rim and they did. They had a lot more free throws than us, but we should have done a better of getting to the rim to draw more fouls."

The loss means LBC will be the second seed in the NCCAA East Region playoffs. The Chargers will host third seeded Philadelphia Biblical on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Valley Forge Christian, the East Region's top seed, will host the winner of PBU/LBC next Friday, February 24 in the NCCAA East Region Final.

The Chargers will wrap up their regular season and play their final NEAC game of the season on Saturday against Penn St. Berks. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. Prior to the game, LBC will honor its seniors, Brett Derr, Andrew Risser, Erich Graybill, Madison Warfel and Travis Weyandt.

LBC will look to close the regular season with a win and hopefully get another shot at Valley Forge Christian next Friday by beating PBU on Wednesday. Another trip back to The Pit in February is what LBC wants and heck, it's not like the Chargers haven't won at The Pit in February before.