The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team saw its four-game winning streak end on Friday night as the Chargers fell to Morrisville State, 86-73 at Horst Athletic Center. The loss drops the Chargers to 6-8 overall and 6-3 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play. Morrisville State improves to 8-4 overall and 5-1 in NEAC play.

How it Happened: Morrisville State jumped out to a 12-6 lead thanks to junior Trent Ward who had 10 of the team's first 12 points. Lancaster Bible junior  Herbie Brown was up to the challenge for the Chargers as he had eight of Lancaster Bible's first 10 points, including a layup that cut Morrisville State's lead to 12-10 with 14:57 left in the opening half. Lancaster Bible crawled to within one at 16-15 after a 3-pointer from Jason Kuntzelman, but Morrisville State used a 9-0 run to take a 25-15 lead with 10:10 left in the first half.

The Chargers gathered themselves and used a 10-0 run capped by back-to-back Kuntzelman 3-pointers to tie the game at 25-25 with 5:34 left in the first half. After buckets from Morrisville State, the Chargers closed the gap to two, 30-28, on a layup from Bryce Reed, but a 3-pointer from Unel Daley and a layup from Kevin Dennis gave the Mustangs a 35-28 lead with 1:31 remaining. A three-point play by sophomore Alex Whitt with 0.4 seconds remaining helped the Chargers to within eight, 40-32, heading into halftime.

Herbie Brown got the Chargers to within six, 43-37, on a three-point play with 16:41 left in the second half, but a quick 6-0 run by Morrisville State allowed the Mustangs to open up a double-digit lead at 49-37. Once again though, Lancaster Bible fought back and used an 8-0 run capped by another Herbie Brown jumper, to close the gap to four. After the Mustangs restored a seven-point lead, the Chargers got back to within four at 60-56 with 8:54 to play, but the game came to a standstill for several possessions as neither team could find the basket. 

The Chargers couldn't convert several chances during the middle of the half and went 8:11 without a bucket and managed just five free throws. By the time the Chargers finally recorded a made basket, it was too late and Lancaster Bible trailed 70-60 with 3:14 to play. The Chargers threw the kitchen sink at Morrisville State in the final minutes, but the Mustangs seemingly sank every free throw and escaped with a 13-point win.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot just 39.1 percent (25-of-64) from the floor and 28 percent (7-of-25) from beyond the arc...The Chargers did shoot well from the free throw line, going 16-for-21...Morrisville State shot 57.1 percent (24-of-42) from the floor and an incredible 32-of-41 from the free throw line...Herbie Brown had a career-high 27 points for the Chargers and added seven rebounds and five steals...Whitt finished with 12 points, while Kuntzelman had 11 points and four boards...Luke Beers and Bill Livezey each had eight points...Kenny Bonaparte had a team-high 21 points for the Mustangs as he led four players in double figures.

The Coach Says: "We were right there for a long time, but I thought we panicked a bit there in the second half and should've done a better job relaxing," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "We needed to do a better job paying attention to detail defensively and we just committed way too many fouls."

On Herbie Brown's Play: "He's a fighter and that's what I love about him," Filzen said. "He's obviously very talented, I just love that he fights and he was the reason we were in the game as long as we were. We need to fight as a group and not just have a couple of individuals take turns throughout the game."

Information Hodge Podge: Morrisville State now leads the all-time series, 5-4...This was the first meeting between the two teams since last year's NEAC Final which the Chargers won, 97-71...The teams also met in the 2013-14 NEAC Final which the Mustangs won...The 32 made free throws for the Mustangs are the most this season, though the team also has games of 28 and 29 made free throws...Herbie Brown's previous career-high was 25 points which he scored earlier this season on December 9 against Penn St. Berks.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Cazenovia on Saturday at 3 p.m.