The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team's quest to clinch a spot in the North Eastern Athletic Conference Playoffs hit a road block on Saturday as the Chargers fell to Penn St. Berks, 89-69 in Reading, Pa. The loss drops the Chargers to 10-12 overall and 10-7 in NEAC play, while the Nittany Lions improved to 5-16, 5-12 NEAC.

How it Happened: Lancaster Bible began the game well as the Chargers scored on three of their first four possessions and took a 6-5 lead on a layup from freshman Brett Cataudella. Penn St. Berks responded with an 11-2 run over the next three minutes to grab a 16-8 lead with 4:39 gone by in the first half. Junior Herbie Brown knocked down a 3-pointer moments later and cut the Chargers' deficit to five, 18-13, but the Nittany Lions hot-shooting turned into a 12-0 run and the Chargers found themselves down 17 points midway through the first half.

Baba Waples hit two 3-pointers during the run and Darren Major added another for Penn St. Berks as Lancaster Bible was held off the scoreboard for almost three minutes. The teams exchanged baskets the rest of the half and a late jumper by sophomore Austin Brown cut the Chargers' deficit to 17, 50-33, as the teams went into halftime.

Lancaster Bible could do very little to get any closer in the second half as the Penn St. Berks offense continued to run on all cylinders. Major hit another 3-pointer for the Nittany Lions with 6:34 to play that gave Penn St. Berks its biggest lead of the game at 83-54. A 9-0 run by the Chargers over the next two minutes cut the deficit to 20 again, but Lancaster Bible was unable to build any more momentum and lost by the same margin.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 33.9 percent (21-of-62) from the floor, including 8-of-27 from beyond the arc...Penn St. Berks shot 42.5 percent (31-of-73) from the field and 10-of-31 from 3-point range...Herbie Brown and fellow junior Bill Livezey each had 16 points to lead the Chargers...Freshman Luke Beers added 14 points, while sophomore Jason Kuntzelman had six points, nine rebounds and five assists...Cataudella finished with eight points and eight boards...Waples finished with 37 points to lead Penn St. Berks.

The Coach Says: "Today was a very disappointing performance," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "We didn't defend well and didn't do the things we work on every single day at practice. We didn't find the open man, didn't make the extra pass and just didn't play well. We have to start doing things better on both ends of the floor and need to do it quickly."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 11-6 all-time against Penn St. Berks...Saturday marks the Chargers first loss to the Nittany Lions since Feb. 15, 2013 and snaps an eight-game winning streak...Livezey's 16 points are a career-high...He had 10 points on three different occasions this season...Lancaster Bible is 5-8 this season away from Horst Athletic Center...The Chargers have scored under 70 points in six of their last eight games.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Bryn Athyn on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m...It will be Senior Night as the Chargers honor Javon Cole, Jared Steiner and Austin Feaster.