The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team opened the 48^th season in program history with an 85-74 loss to Neumann on Tuesday night at Horst Athletic Center, as the Knights improved to 2-0 on the young season, while the Chargers dropped to 0-1.
 
How it Happened: The teams traded buckets over the first five minutes, but five straight points from Neumann opened a 16-10 lead for the Knights. Lancaster Bible answered with a 9-0 run of its own, as Jackson Henri had five points, and Jordan Shewbridge capped the run with two free throws.
 
The Knights and Chargers exchanged baskets again for five minutes, but a layup from Tyler Norris, followed by a jumper from Britton Beachy with 3:57 remaining in the first half gave Lancaster Bible a 37-32 advantage, and the Chargers extended the lead a minute later with layups from Henri and Luke Beers.
 
Beers' layup with 2:22 remaining made it 41-32 in favor of the home team, but that would be the last bucket of the half for the Chargers, and they led, 41-34 after 20 minutes of play.
 
Neumann wasted little time getting back into the game in the second half, as the Knights opened the half on a 10-3 run. Nasir Cassel tied the game at 44-44 with 16:28 remaining, but the Chargers regained the lead after back-to-back baskets from freshman Jarron Cuoghi.
 
The teams traded scoring runs through the middle portion of the second half, as Neumann tied the game at 49-49 with 13:31 to play, but Lancaster Bible led 61-50 four minutes later, as Shewbridge capped a 10-1 run with one of his two 3-pointers.
 
Neumann called timeout following Shewbridge's 3-pointer and came out as a different team, as the Knights began what would eventually be 26-5 scoring run over the next seven minutes. The Chargers went cold offensively and struggled to get stops on the defensive end, as Haneef Vaughn, Anthony Mitchell, and Cassel led Neumann back into the lead.
 
The Chargers cut their deficit to eight with 1:40 to play, but it was too little too late, and the Chargers dropped their season opener for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
 
Statistically Speaking: Lancaster Bible 39.1 percent (25-of-64) from the field, as well as 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from 3-point range…Neumann shot 43.7 percent (31-of-71) from the floor, and 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from beyond the arc…Norris led the Chargers with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range…Norris also had nine rebounds and an assist…Shewbridge finished with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Henri was the final player in double figures with 12 points, and added seven rebounds…Beachy added nine points and three assists, and Beers had five points, three boards and two assists…Freshman Adam Stoltzfus had three points and two boards in his first-ever collegiate game…Cassel finished with a game-high 24 points for the Knights, while Vaughn had 22 points.
 
The Coach Says: "I liked the way we played at different parts of the game, and thought we got good shots in the first half and attacked the glass well," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Jon Mack said. "However, we struggled to get going in the second half, and our defensive energy was lacking immediately in the second half. We get our energy from the defensive end, and when we didn't have it, it energized Neumann later in the second half, and they made us pay."
 
On the Transition Game: "I didn't like our transition for most of the night," Mack said. "We running just to run, and not reading the play at all. There has to be a point to your transition, and we need to do a better job of reading while we're running. I liked our tempo in the first half, and thought it would help us later in the game, we just couldn't keep it going."
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 3-3 all-time against Neumann…This was the first matchup between the teams since the 1991-92 season…The Chargers hadn't lost a season opener since Nov. 18, 2016 when they lost to Franklin & Marshall, 94-91 in overtime…Lancaster Bible was 8-4 at home last season…Neumann hosts the number one ranked team in NCAA Division III on Saturday, as the Knights welcome Swarthmore to Aston, Pa...The previous game-high for Norris was 11 which he scored in back-to-back games last season on Jan. 16 & Jan. 18.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will take part in the William Marshall Tip-Off Tournament at Franklin & Marshall this Friday and Saturday, as the Chargers take on the host Diplomats on Friday night at 7:30 p.m…Saturday's games are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and depending on Friday's outcomes, Lancaster Bible will face either Christopher Newport or Marywood.