The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team returned to play on Friday following a break for Christmas, and the Chargers fell to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute [RPI], 61-60 in the opening game of the Woodcliff Hotel & Spa Tournament, hosted by St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y. Lancaster Bible is now 7-3 this season, while RPI improved to 7-1. 

First Half Highlights:
-After trailing, 5-0 in the opening minutes, the Chargers battled back to tie the game at 8-8 on a Quentin Davis layup with 13:04 to play in the half
-The Chargers held the Engineers without a bucket for over six minutes in the half and led 12-10 with under ten minutes to play
-After trailing again, the Chargers used a 15-0 scoring run over a 3:56 span to take a 27-16 lead with 3:48 to go, as Davis capped the run with another layup...Freshman Britton Beachy had 11 of the 15 points for the Chargers during the run
-Lancaster Bible couldn't hold the large lead however, and was outscored, 16-4 over the final 3:48, and led just 31-30 at the break

Second Half Highlights:
-The score remained close for the first eight minutes of the second half, as another jumper by Beachy cut the Chargers' deficit to 43-40 with 12:52 remaining
-A 10-2 run over the next four minutes however, gave RPI a 53-42 advantage with just under nine minutes remaining
-Lancaster Bible chipped away at RPI's lead for the next seven minutes, and cut it to one, 58-57 with 1:40 to play after a layup from senior Herbie Brown
-Back-to-back free throws from Beachy just 24 seconds later, gave the Chargers a 59-58 lead, their first since the beginning of the second half
-The Engineers missed two 3-pointers on their next possession, and Lancaster Bible had the ball, up one with under 30 seconds to play, but couldn't get a shot off and turned the ball over late in the shot clock
-RPI drew up a play and Bard Featherston drained a 3-pointer with 14 seconds to play to give the Engineers a 61-59 lead
-Herbie Brown got to the free throw line with six seconds left and knocked down the first of his two shots, but couldn't get the second to fall, as the Chargers trailed by one, 61-60
-After a Lancaster Bible foul, RPI missed a free throw of its own, giving the Chargers one last chance, but Herbie Brown's 3-point chance as time expired wouldn't go and the Chargers fell by one

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible was 21-of-48 (43.8 percent) from the field, but was 0-of-11 from 3-point range...The Chargers were 18-of-24 from the free throw line...RPI shot 22-of-55 (40 percent) from the floor, and was 12-of-31 from beyond the arc...Herbie Brown had 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting for the Chargers, and added 10 rebounds...Beachy also had 17 points, as he was a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line...Junior Christo Majok had nine points and eight rebounds for Lancaster Bible, while fellow junior Quentin Davis had eight points and four boards...Andreas Kontopidas had a game-high 25 points for the Engineers.

The Coach Says: "We had control of the game in the first half, but had some letdowns defensively and energy-wise and gave up a big run to end the half and then another in the second half," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "I'm proud of our guys for fighting back in the second half and giving ourselves a chance to win."

"I thought we were pretty solid defensively for much of the game, but we didn't have a lot of rhythm offensively, especially the way we moved the ball," Filzen said. " RPI is a tough team and I thought we showed what we can do, but we need to do it on a more consistent basis against good teams, which is why we like playing in tournaments like these. RPI is a good team, having a good season and it's important that we play teams like this."

Information Hodge Podge: This was the first-ever meeting between the two schools...Beachy's 17 points are a career-high...Lancaster Bible held a 38-31 edge in rebounds.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible will face The College at Old Wesbury (N.Y.) in Saturday's Consolation Game...Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.