The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team rebounded from an 18-point Friday night loss to Salisbury on Saturday afternoon, as the Chargers defeated the Seagulls, 67-65 in the rematch, to improve to 3-2 overall this season, while the Seagulls dropped to 4-3 overall.
 
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible was held scoreless for nearly three minutes to open the contest, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Grant Sareyka and Jordan Shewbridge at 17:13 and 16:30 helped the Chargers build an early 6-2 lead. The advantage grew to 10-2 thanks to a field goal and two free throws form Andrew Zentner, and it was the Chargers who held Salisbury without points for over three minutes this time, as the Seagulls eventually made it 10-4 on a layup from Paul Garcia.
 
The Seagulls continued to shrink their deficit midway through the opening half, and a Jordan Oates jumper cut Lancaster Bible's lead to 16-15 with 8:09 to play in the first half. The Chargers withstood the pressure however, and a layup from Tyler Hilton capped a 7-1 run, and gave Lancaster Bible a 23-16 lead with 4:01 remaining. Following a free throw from Salisbury, the Chargers scored on three straight possessions, as Zentner had a layup, followed by five straight points from Sareyka, to make it a 30-17 advantage for the visitors. The Chargers eventually took a 32-23 lead into halftime.
 
Salisbury opened the second half on a 7-2 run, and cut the Chargers' lead to 34-30 just two minutes into the period, but Shewbridge knocked down two straight 3-pointers to build the lead back to ten, 40-30. The Seagulls answered again, as the teams went back-and-forth, and a 10-2 run capped by a Garcia 3-pointer trimmed Lancaster Bible's lead to 42-40 with 12:31 remaining.
 
The Seagulls took their first lead since the opening minutes of the game with 10:18 to play, as Brandon Craig drained a 3-pointer, but a Shewbridge layup on the next Lancaster Bible possession tied the game at 45-45 with just under 10 minutes to play. Salisbury built a five-point lead, 53-48 with 7:26 remaining after two free throws from Cameron Heard, but it became Jordan Shewbridge time after that, as he scored eight of Lancaster Bible's next 11 points, and gave the Chargers a 60-47 lead on a layup with 4:05 to play.
 
The teams traded points over the next three minutes, and Lancaster Bible led, 64-61 with just over a minute to play. Two Gary Briddell free throws with 44 seconds left cut Lancaster Bible's lead to one, but after running the shot clock down, Hilton made a great move to the basket and converted a layup to restore the Chargers' three-point lead at 66-63.
 
Briddell was fouled with 4.2 seconds to play and hit both free throws, but Hilton knocked down one of two on the other end, and Salisbury never got a shot off in the final 3.6 seconds, as Seth Beers made a great defensive play to knock the ball away.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 35.6 percent (21-of-59) from the floor, including 25 percent (5-of-20) from 3-point range…The Chargers once again shot well from the free throw line, going 20-of-25…The Seagulls shot 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the field, including 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from beyond the arc…Salisbury was 18-of-26 from the charity stripe…Lancaster Bible held a 43-35 edge in rebounds, including a 14-10 advantage on the offensive glass…Shewbridge finished with a game-high 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting…Hilton added 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Sareyka had 11 points…Zentner was the fourth and final player in double figures with 10 points, and also added 12 rebounds…Stoltzfus was the only other player to score, as he had one point to go with eight rebounds…Johnny Fierstein led the Seagulls with 13 points.
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 1-3 all-time against Salisbury…These two teams have played three times in 14 days after playing just twice in 49 years…The Chargers are 2-1 on the road this season after going 3-11 in road games last season…Counting exhibition games, Saturday marked the sixth straight road contest for the Chargers, who will play at Cairn on Friday, before returning home for five of their final seven regular season contests…In five countable contests this season, Lancaster Bible has held a halftime lead in three of those games, and won all three…Zentner's double-double was the first of his collegiate career.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will head to Langhorne, Pa. on Friday night to battle longtime rival Cairn at 7 p.m.