The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team won its fifth straight game on Monday night, defeating Muhlenberg, 72-67 at Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers are now 13-4 overall, while the Mules dropped to 7-10. 

How it Happened: Lancaster Bible opened the game on a 6-0 run over the first minute of the contest, as senior Jalen Archer completed a three-point play on the Chargers' first possession, followed by 3-pointer from fellow senior Bill Livezey on the second possession of the game. Freshman Britton Beachy gave the Chargers an 11-5 lead on a layup with 16:17 remaining in the first half, and the teams traded baskets for several minutes following the Beachy bucket.

A 3-pointer from Muhlenberg's Owen McLeod cut the Chargers' lead to 22-20 midway through the half, and the Mules would eventually tie the game at both 23-23 and 25-25, before the Chargers used a quick 4-0 burst to grab a 29-25 advantage with 6:17 to play. A three-point play from senior Austin Brown with 4:57 remaining in the half gave the Chargers a 34-26 lead, their biggest of the opening half, but a late 8-1 run by the Mules over the final three minutes, tied the score at 37-37 heading into halftime.

Like the first half, the Chargers scored the first six points of the second half and built a 43-37 lead after a three-point play from Archer. Muhlenberg closed the gap to two on a couple of occasions, but Lancaster Bible responded each time and two free throws from junior Quentin Davis with 13:19 to play gave the Chargers a 52-45 lead.

Lancaster Bible led by as many as nine on three different occasions in the second half, the last coming at 6:42 after a dunk from junior Christo Majok. Things went downhill from there however, and the Mules used a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 61-60, on a jumper from Erik Werheim. The teams traded points on back-to-back possessions, but the Mules took a 66-62 lead on a 3-pointer from Nick Rindock with 3:17 to play.

After a layup from Livezey cut the Chargers' deficit to two, Davis stole the ball and converted a layup to knot the score at 66-66. Just 30 seconds later, Majok grabbed a big offensive rebound and his put-back layup gave the Chargers a 68-66 advantage. The Mules came up empty on their next possession, and Davis made them pay with a thunderous dunk off a nice feed from Livezey. 

Muhlenberg trailed 70-67 with 22 seconds to play, but Archer stole the in-bounds pass as the Mules were trying to go down the floor and tie the game, Lancaster Bible missed a free throw to ice the game, but Muhlenberg's Nick Rindock saw his 3-pointer miss with five seconds to play and Majok grabbed the rebound and ended the game with two free throws with two seconds left.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 27-of-64 (42.2 percent) from the floor, but just 3-of-17 from 3-point range...The Mules were 21-of-60 (35 percent) from the field and 10-of-27 from beyond the arc...Lancaster Bible held a 41-39 edge in rebounds...Davis finished with a game-high 16 points, his second straight game with 16 points...Majok had 11 points and game-high 17 rebounds to go with five steals...Archer posted 13 points, while Livezey had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists...Beachy finished with seven points, and Austin Brown had five points and seven boards...Owen McLeod had a team-high 15 points for the Mules.

The Coach Says: "I thought we played well at different times tonight, but we have to learn to play with the lead," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "We would take a seven-, eight-, nine-point lead and then commit a bad turnover and the lead would drop to four, five or six. We need to not always look for the home run play and stay consistent in our offensive system. I think when we play within the system, we hit more shots, especially 3-pointers."

On the team's play in non-conference games this season: "We played some tough games and played well for the most part," Filzen said. "We wanted to use these nine non-conference games as a learning process and I believe we learned a lot. We are prepared for the stretch run here of conference play."

Information Hodge Podge: This was the first-ever meeting between the two teams...The Chargers are now 7-2 at home this season...Lancaster Bible was 5-4 in non-conference games this season...Lancaster Bible is just 5-of-30 from 3-point range over the past two games...The Chargers are 13-1 this season when they have 10 or more assists in a game...The five-game winning streak matches a season-best, as the Chargers won five straight games from mid-November to early December.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible heads to Chambersburg, Pa. on Wednesday night to face Wilson at 6 p.m...The Chargers defeated the Phoenix, 97-57 earlier this season at Horst Athletic Center, but Wilson has played well ever since, and is now 12-5 overall and 6-2 in NEAC play.