After stunning Valley Forge Christian in last season's NCCAA East Region Final, the Patriots' seniors made sure history wasn't repeated and helped lead an attack that helped crush the spirits of the Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team. Michael Stum and Latrell Alford combined for 56 points as the Patriots defeated the Chargers, 98-61 and reclaimed the East Region title.

VFCC (24-7) forced 21 first half turnovers and scored 57 points en route to a 28-point halftime lead, 57-29. [In last season's East Region Final, the Patriots scored just 62 points in a 64-62 defeat.] Not only did the Patriots force turnovers in the first half, but they shot 61.1% [22-of-36] from the floor. The Chargers, try-as-they-may, kept up for the first few minutes, but simply couldn't hold on to the ball.

"They put on a clinic tonight," Chargers' Head Coach Pete Beers said of the Patriots. "Our goal is to always try and hold Valley Forge to 60 points...they almost had that at the break."

Another frustrating point for the Chargers was that they actually shot 50% [11-of-22] from the floor in the first half, but their 11 field goals were half of what the Patriots had.

"They just attacked and attacked," Beers said. "We shoot 50% and we're still down by 28 at halftime. The turnovers killed us."

The lone high point of the first half for LBC was senior Madison Warfel who had 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including four 3-pointers. Needing just 20 points to eclipse the 1,000-point mark, it appeared at least some good would come of what was  not going to be the Chargers' night.

Almost halfway through the second half however, Warfel had only scored one point and was still two shy of 1,000. With 10:57 left in the game, Warfel got the ball at the top of the arc and drained the final 3-pointer of his collegiate career to finish with 1,001 points. Warfel becomes the 19th player in LBC men's basketball history to score 1,000 points.


"I'm happy for Madison," Beers said. "It's not the way he and the other seniors wanted things to end, but they played hard. My hope is that they go out into the world and do something for God."

The second ranked Patriots will head to the NCCAA National Tournament in Springfield, Missouri and look to avenge last season's National Championship loss to Grace Bible. If Stum, Alford and the Patriots play like they did on Friday night, they will certainly be a tough out.



"Give them credit," Beers said. "Stum and Alford played great and you have to applaud them."

The Chargers' season is over and their 7-20 record is the worst since the 2007-08 season when they finished 5-22. They lose five seniors, including leading scorer Warfel [10.4 ppg] and will once again play a tough non-conference schedule.

"We will find out this offseason what type of team we will have next year," Beers said. "We want to be better in the future and the guys need to work hard."

Notes:
-Both Valley Forge Christian teams won the East Region Final this season.

-Warfel finishes his career with 173 3-pointers which is third all-time in LBC history.

-The last five LBC players [men or women] to score 1,000 points, have all done so in LBC losses.