The last time the Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team suffered back-to-back home regular season losses, Head Coach Zach Filzen was a season removed from his playing days at the University Buffalo as the Chargers had not lost two straight at home since the 2012-13 campaign. After Saturday's stunning defeat at the hands Wilson, 74-71, Filzen and the Chargers will have to regroup if they are to regain the magic of the past three seasons as Lancaster Bible is now 1-4 overall and 1-2 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play. 

How it Happened: The game was close for 40 minutes as neither team could pull away. Lancaster Bible started strong, taking an early 7-2 lead after a 3-pointer from sophomore Jason Kuntzelman. Austin Brown's layup with 13:40 to play in the opening half gave the Chargers a 13-6 lead, but Wilson began to chip away at its deficit immediately as Ian Frazier knocked down a 3-pointer on the next possession to make it a four-point game, 13-9. 

The teams went back-and-forth over the next six minutes and Wilson took its first lead of the game at 20-19 on a free throw from Rashaan Bean. The Chargers retook the lead a few moments later and a 3-pointer from Bill Livezey with 54 seconds left in the half gave Lancaster Bible a 35-31 advantage. The Phoenix answered right back again as Keion Adams knocked down a triple to trim Lancaster Bible's lead to one, 35-34, which the Chargers held through the halftime break.

The Chargers quickly increased their lead early in the second half, going on a 9-4 run and taking a 44-38 lead on a jumper from Herbie Brown with 16:11 remaining. Wilson followed with an 8-2 run of its own and the game was tied less than three minutes later. Frazier hit another 3-pointer with 13:19 to play to give the Phoenix a 49-46 lead and the Chargers were never on the right side of the score again.

Lancaster Bible cut its deficit to one, 49-48, on two free throws from Bryce Reed, but Wilson continued to get shots it wanted, and a 3-pointer by Bean gave the Phoenix a 59-52 advantage with just over 10 minutes to play. The Chargers fought their way back and trailed by just one, 72-71 with 21 seconds to play after a 3-pointer from Herbie Brown. 

Bean knocked down two clutch free throws on Wilson's next possession to make it 74-71 and the Chargers were unable to get a quality shot off as time expired and were sent to their second straight loss.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 26-of-64 (40.6 percent) from the floor, but struggled again from 3-point range, as the Chargers shot just 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from downtown...Wilson shot 24-of-55 (43.6 percent) from the floor, but was a tremendous 19-of-22 (86.4 percent) from the free throw line...Herbie Brown led the Chargers with 21 points, while Brett Cataudella continued his strong play with 15 points and nine rebounds...Kuntzelman and Bill Livezey were also in double figures with 10 points each...Kuntzelman also added nine boards and three assists...Keion Adams paced the Phoenix with 22 points, 17 of which came in the first half.

The Coach Says: "We've got to be better defensively," Filzen said. "We did terrible with dribble penetration today and that simply has to improve."

On the Team's Offense: "We have to re-evaluate some things offensively," Filzen said. "We have to do a better job of getting the ball inside and getting better looks at the basket. It's up to the coaching staff to draw those things up and I know we have players who can execute and knock down shots."

On Having Almost a Week Off Before the Next Game: "It's good to have a few days so we can work to get better and come together," Filzen said. "We are going through some struggles, but we have to find a way to get better and I still feel as though this team can click and play at a high level."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 4-1 all-time against Wilson...The Phoenix began playing men's basketball in 2014-15...Over the two games this weekend at Horst Athletic Center, the Chargers were 8-of-58 (13.8 percent) from 3-point range...Lancaster Bible's back-to-back home losses in 2012-13 came against Gallaudet (Dec. 8, 2012) and Messiah (Jan. 2, 2013)...With just two games remaining in the first semester, the Chargers will be under .500 at the Christmas break for the first time since the 2013-14 season when Lancaster Bible was 4-5 heading into Christmas...If there is any upside to the previous note, the 2013-14 team finished 22-9 and host the NEAC Final.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible will play its final NEAC game of the semester next Friday as the Chargers host Penn St. Berks at 7:30 p.m.