The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team lost its first game of the season on Saturday, as Salisbury muscled past the Chargers, 66-56 at Horst Athletic Center. The Seagulls improved to 3-1 this season, while the Chargers dropped to 1-1.
 
How it Happened: Both teams struggled mightily from the field in the first half, though the Chargers did hold a 7-2 lead 2:21 into the contest thanks to a layup from Adam Stoltzfus. The Seagulls tied the game at 7-7 on a 3-pointer from Jordan Oates three minutes later, and Lancaster Bible snapped a four-minute dry spell on a layup from Andrew Zenter with 13:06 remaining in the half.
 
Lancaster Bible took its largest lead of the game, 17-11, with 6:48 to play after two free throws from Tyler Hilton, but Salisbury began to chip away, and tied the game with 2:02 remaining in the half, and then used a late 3-pointer from Paul Garcia to take a 29-26 lead into halftime.
 
Lancaster Bible's offense was ice-cold out of the break, and Salisbury used a 9-0 run to build a 38-26 lead five minutes into the second half. Zentner finally broke the scoring drought 5:02 into the half with a layup, and Grant Sareyka added another on the next trip down the floor. A 3-pointer and layup from Seth Beers cut the deficit to 40-35 with 13:11 to play, but the Chargers never got any closer, as Salisbury used tough defense and timely shooting to pull away.
 
The Chargers cut the Salisbury lead to single digits a few more times throughout the second half, but couldn't get any closer, as the Seagulls knocked down free throws, and earned big defensive stops when they need them.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot just 27.9 percent (19-of-68) from the floor, and an abysmal 4.3 percent (1-of-23) from 3-point range…The Chargers did shoot 89.5 percent (17-of-19) from the free throw line…Salisbury shot 43.4 percent from the field, but just 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from beyond the arc…Beers had 15 points to lead the Chargers, while Sareyka had 12 points…Jordan Shewbridge had nine points, and Zentner had four points and nine rebounds…Paul Garcia had 15 points to pace the Seagulls, while Johnny Fierstein had 13 points, eight boards, and eight assists.
 
The Coach Says: "I didn't think our shot selection was great, and we took too many contested shots," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Jon Mack said. "Right now we aren't valuing how to score, and if we begin to do that, we will see results. We need to add a shot fake here and there, and we started telegraphing too much of our offense, and then began forcing shots. It's all a bad recipe for a successful offense."
 
On the weekend: "We played two strong teams this weekend, and I thought we did some good things, but Salisbury did too many things they wanted to do today, and we need to make some adjustments," Mack said. "I think we need to be able to grind games out a bit better, but we will keep improving and this was a lot physically this weekend, and we will get better."
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 0-2 all-time against Salisbury…The Chargers also lost to the Seagulls on Nov. 16, 2018, as Salisbury won, 92-73 in Salisbury, Md…Beers scored in double figures for the second straight game, while Sareyka scored in double digits for the first time in his collegiate career…The 1-for-23 3-point shooting for the Chargers is the lowest since the team began keeping the statistic…Lancaster Bible's bench outscored Salisbury, 35-32.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible returns to the floor on Wednesday for an exhibition game against NCAA Division I Delaware State in Dover, Del…Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.