The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team won its home opener on Tuesday night as the Chargers defeated Lancaster County neighbor Elizabethtown, 70-58 in front of a raucous crowd at Horst Athletic Center. The victory over the Blue Jays was the first in program history for the Chargers who improved to 1-5 all-time against Elizabethtown.

After falling behind 12-3 to Messiah in Saturday's season opener, Lancaster Bible turned the tables on Tuesday night as they opened the game on a 13-1 run over the first 6:13. Joe Bodnar hit Elizabethtown's first bucket, one of his six 3-pointers, at the 13:47 mark, but answered right back as Albert Suniga hit a 3-pointer of his own and the Chargers would eventually extend their lead to 22-9. 

As would become a common theme throughout the contest, Elizabethtown would no go away as they outscored Lancaster Bible, 20-12 the rest of the way and trailed by just five, 34-29, at the break.

The Chargers once again opened the half on fire as they scored the first nine points of the second half and took a 43-29 lead just 2:41 into the second frame. After the teams exchanged buckets for the next few minutes, junior CJ Dunston stole the ball and went on a 2-on-1 break with fellow junior Dondre Perry. Dunston lobbed the ball up to Perry who through it down for one of his two dunks on the night and gave Lancaster Bible a 50-35 advantage with 13:33 to play. Four converted free throws on two of the next three possessions helped the Chargers build their largest lead of the game at 54-35.

The Blue Jays (1-2) once again fought back as they used a 14-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the deficit to 56-49 with 6:58 to play. After the teams traded buckets again, Bodnar hit his sixth and final 3-pointer and cut Lancaster Bible's lead to 61-56 with 4:59 remaining. It turned out to be Elizabethtown's final bucket of the night as the Blue Jays went 0-for-6 the rest of the way and turned the ball over once.

A three-point play that started with a great pass by sophomore Javon Cole and ended with a tough layup by senior Corey Leonard restored Lancaster Bible's 10-point lead and the Chargers never looked back.

Dunston finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Suniga had a team-high 17 points. Perry added 16 points and five boards for the Chargers who improved to 1-1 this season. 

"We were looking for urgency from the opening tip-off," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Marshall Tague said. "We came with passion and played with heart and I thought we played pretty well defensively. And with a crowd like the one we had to tonight, it was a fun game to be a part of."

Throughout the night, Dunston, Perry and Suniga all took turns taking the game over, something Tague believes each has the power to do on a nightly basis.

"CJ can do it all," Tague said. "Whether its grabbing a boards, taking it the length of the floor and finishing the play, he's a guy who can do a lot of things. Dre did a great job pulling down rebounds and had really active hands on defense tonight. I think we have two, three, even four guys who can take a game over on any night."

The game featured several scoring runs by each team as the Chargers would jump out to a big lead only to see most of it evaporate over the next few minutes. Tague said he wasn't concerned and knows those scoring runs are part of the game.

"We had some scoring runs and gave up a few tonight, but I wasn't overly concerned," Tague said. "Those runs are going to happen and when you play a good team like Elizabethtown who doesn't back down, you just have to be willing to sustain those runs and then rebound with one of your own. My concern coming into the game was could we bring it for 40 minutes? Wanting to work hard has to be apparent in practice, walk-throughs and for 40 minutes each game."

After Saturday's game in which the Chargers were outplayed for long stretches of time, Tague was asked how the team rebounded so quickly from such a tough loss.

"It's a long year and you try to keep that in perspective after just one game, but you can't move past what's right in front of you and this game was big for us," Tague said. "We had some good film time and a good practice on Monday and I think the guys showed great urgency."

The victory over Elizabethtown is the first in six tries for the Chargers and is something Tague thinks may help the team this season and moving forward. 

"It's a great early win," Tague said. "We have struggled to win games early in the season over the past two years and it's a big deal locally and for our fans, as well as the Lancaster Bible community. I'm happy for the guys and for our school."

Lancaster Bible returns to the court on Saturday, November 29 at 3 p.m. when they take on Eastern in St. Davids, Pa.

Notes:
-Lancaster Bible has won 10 of its last 11 home games dating back to last season with the lone loss coming to Morrisville State in the NEAC Final on March 2, 2014. 

-These same two schools will meet Thursday in women's basketball action as Lancaster Bible visits Elizabethtown at 7 p.m.