The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team won its eighth straight game on Wednesday night, defeating Penn St. Berks, 102-87 in Reading, Pa. The victory clinches the North Eastern Athletic Conference South Division for the Chargers, who will now be the top seed in the NEAC Quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 20 against an opponent to be determined. The rest of the NEAC Playoffs will be decided following the quarterfinal round. Wednesday's victory moves the Chargers to 16-4 overall this season and 11-0 in NEAC play, including a 9-0 mark in NEAC South Division action. The Nittany Lions, meanwhile, dropped to 2-17 overall and 2-9 in NEAC play.

First Half Highlights:
-The Chargers had another hot start, as senior Jalen Archer's layup just 1:45 into the contest gave Lancaster Bible a 7-2 lead
-After Penn St. Berks closed the gap to two, 9-7, the Chargers went on a 14-0 run over the next 4:30, to take a 23-9 advantage...Sophomore Luke Beers had five points during the run, while senior Herbie Brown added four points
-Midway through the half, junior Quentin Davis connected for nine straight points, the last of which gave the Chargers a 34-21 lead with 7:59 remaining in the half
-Lancaster Bible continued to lead by double digits, and then scored the final four points of the half, the last two coming on a dunk from Davis, to take a 49-32 lead into halftime

Second Half Highlights:
-The Nittany Lions used an 8-2 run over the first two minutes of the second half to close the gap to 11, but the Chargers scored the next nine points of the game and took a 20-point lead, 60-40
-Lancaster Bible took its biggest lead of the game, 69-43, after a layup from senior Bill Livezey with 11:14 to play
-Penn St. Berks wouldn't go away quietly however, and cut the Chargers' lead to 10, 85-75 with 4:36 remaining
-Lancaster Bible responded, and a layup from Davis with 2:43 to play, gave the Chargers a 92-78 lead
-The Chargers hit free throws down the stretch to maintain their lead, and a late bucket from freshman Tyler Hilton produced the final score, 102-87

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot an outrageous 39-of-54 (72.2 percent) from the field, including 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) in the second half...Penn St. Berks shot 31-of-77 (40.3 percent) from the floor, including 14-of-35 from 3-point range...Davis had a team-high 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting, while Beers and Livezey each added 14 points...Herbie Brown had 13 points and four rebounds...Archer finished with nine points and four assists...Junior Christo Majok had six points on 3-of-3 shooting, to go with seven rebounds and three assists...Junior Alex Whitt chipped in with six points, and freshman Britton Beachy had five points, and a team-high five assists...Penn St. Berks was led by Nelson Hine's career-high 30 points.

The Coach Says: "Tonight was a pretty solid performance," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "We came out with a ton of energy and played lockdown defense, which helped us get some buckets in transition and open up a lead. We had a slower start in the second half, but called timeout and got things straightened out pretty quickly."

On Wednesday's Big Performers: "Quentin played well tonight, and not only got some good passes from teammates, but played big on the boards and made some room for himself as well," Filzen said. "We also got great contributions from Luke Beers, Alex Whitt and Britton Beachy. We have a big weekend in New York coming up and contributions from everyone will be very important."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is 13-6 all-time against Penn St. Berks and swept the season series this year...The Chargers defeated the Nittany Lions, 79-74 on Dec. 2 at Horst Athletic Center...The 72.2 percent shooting is a season-high, and is the third-highest mark in NCAA Division III this season...Wednesday marked the first time this season the Chargers have scored 100 points in a game.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible heads to New York this weekend to face Cazenovia on Friday night at 6 p.m. and Wells on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.