The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team looked every bit like a team that hadn't played a game in 21 days on Monday night and when they did get out of their own way, the Chargers met up a defensive pressure they hadn't seen much of this season. In the end, Lancaster Bible prevailed 61-58 over rival Cairn University at Horst Athletic Center, but not before some late theatrics that made the game much closer than it should have been.

The Chargers, playing for the first time since defeating Mount Aloysius, 90-73 on December 15, raced out to a 15-7 lead just over five minutes into the game, but Cairn cut the deficit to three points at 17-14 with just over 11 minutes to play. After the Chargers extended their lead to seven, the Highlanders eventually tied the game on a layup by Reuben Lacy with 6:25 left in the half. A 10-2 run over the next 2:30 gave Lancaster Bible an eight-point lead at 33-25 with 2:56 to play in the half. Cairn trimmed the deficit to four twice before the half, but a bucket by Herbie Brown with six seconds remaining helped Lancaster Bible take a 37-31 lead into halftime.

Lancaster Bible was 14-of-25 (53.9 percent) from the floor in the first half and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, but turned the ball over nine times. 

The rust seemed to have worn off at halftime as the Chargers used an 8-3 run in the first 3:29 of the second half to take a 45-34 lead with 16:31 to play. A thunderous dunk from Dondre Perry off a great court-length pass from Albert Suniga capped the run and sent Cairn Head Coach Jason O'Connell calling for a timeout. 

The lead remained around 11 for much of the half before the Chargers took their largest lead of the game at 57-43 with 8:40 to play. After Cairn cut the deficit to 12, back-to-back free throws from Suniga extended the lead back to 14 with 5:24 to play as the Chargers appeared to be cruising to another victory.

The Highlanders (0-9) had other plans as they scored six straight points to shrink Lancaster Bible's lead to 59-51 with 3:04 to play. Both teams failed to score on several possessions until Corey Leonard converted a layup with 1:50 to play to restore Lancaster Bible's 10-point lead at 61-51. It turned out to be Lancaster Bible's last bucket, but Cairn was not finished as JD Zamroz converted a three-point play which was followed by a layup from Reuben Lacy that made it a 61-56 game with 1:17 to play.

An empty possession from Lancaster Bible was followed by two free throws from Cairn's Aaron Stovall that made it 61-58 with 55 seconds left. Two missed free throws from Lancaster Bible, the last with 27 seconds to play, gave Cairn hope as they called timeout with 18 seconds to play. The Highlanders would not get a shot off however as the Chargers used their best defensive possession of the game to cause a turnover with seven seconds remaining. 

Perry was fouled and though he missed a free throw with two seconds remaining, junior CJ Dunston grabbed the rebound as time expired.

The Chargers finished the game with 21 turnovers and while some of them were their own fault, many were forced by Cairn's tough defense.

"Cairn's defensive pressure was good and I thought we stood and watched a lot too which didn't help," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Marshall Tague said. "We didn't help ourselves a whole lot with some missed free throws, but Cairn seemed to have a little more want-to than we did tonight at certain times and they played well."

Dunston finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Chargers, while Suniga also finished with 13 points. Suniga was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line and Perry finished with 12 points too.

Despite the ugliness of the win, the Chargers continue to show they can win just about any way there is to win.

"The guys are making hustle plays and making plays when they need to be made, but we certainly need to play better as we hit a stretch of conference games," Tague said. 

The first of those conference games takes place on Wednesday when the Chargers host Penn College at 6 p.m. The Wildcats, in their first season of North Eastern Athletic Conference play, are 1-2 in conference play and 2-7 overall.