The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team won for the third time in four games on Saturday night, as the Chargers posted a resounding, 86-68 victory over longtime rival Cairn at Horst Athletic Center. The victory sends the Chargers to 4-2 overall this season, while the Highlanders dropped to 4-1.
 
How it Happened: Cairn didn't miss a shot over the first 5:30 of the contest, as the Highlanders began the game 8-of-8 from the floor. The Chargers however hung right with the visitors, and trailed just 18-15 after a free throw from Andrew Zentner. A 3-pointer by Cairn's Elias Ortiz gave the Highlanders a 26-19 advantage midway through the opening half, but the Chargers slowly began to chip away at the deficit, and trailed just 30-29 after a 3-pointer from Seth Beers with 5:12 to play.
 
Senior Britton Beachy gave the Chargers their first lead with 3:36 to play, as he converted a layup. Just over a minute later Beachy had another layup, was fouled, and knocked down the free throw, to give Lancaster Bible a 34-30 lead. A 3-pointer from Tyler Hilton, and another layup from Beachy capped the 16-0 run for the Chargers, and gave the home team a 39-30 advantage. Cairn scored the final six points of the half however, and Lancaster Bible's lead was cut to three at the break.
 
Lancaster Bible opened the second half on a 9-1 run, as 3-pointers from Jordan Shewbridge and Beachy gave the Chargers a 48-37 lead just 2:14 into the half. The lead grew to 14 two minutes later, as Seth Beers converted a layup in transition, as Andrew Zentner stole the ball and fed him a pass as he and a Cairn player crashed into the scorer's table.
 
Cairn cut its deficit to 10 to make it a 55-45 game with 14:26 remaining, but Lancaster Bible used another 8-0 run and led 63-45 with just under 11 minutes to play after another layup from Beers. Zentner took over midway through the second frame, and after layup midway through the half, he converted two free throws as well with 7:10 to play to give the Chargers a 73-51 lead.
 
Lancaster Bible saw its lead shrink to 15 at 75-60, but a thunderous dunk from Zentner with 2:02 put a bow on the victory, and the Chargers improved to 4-2.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 48.5 percent (33-of-68) from the field, but just 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from 3-point range…The Chargers did shoot 78.9 percent (15-of-19) from the free throw line…Cairn shot 41 percent (25-of-61) from the floor, including 35.7 percent (10-of-28) from beyond the arc…The Highlanders were shot just 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from the free throw line…Lancaster Bible held an 8-2 edge in blocks, though Cairn had the rebounding advantage, 37-33…Shewbridge finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and also added four rebounds and four assists…Zentner had 16 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks, while Beers had nine points, five assists, and four boards…Britton Beachy had a season-high 15 points to go with four assists, while his brother Ethan added nine points and three boards…Tyler Hilton chipped in with seven points, while Grant Sareyka had seven…Kameron Clark had 15 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Highlanders.
 
The Coach Says: "Cairn's source of power comes from their ability to dribble and penetrate, their transition, and second-chance opportunities," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Jon Mack explained. "I thought we did a good job taking that away as the game progressed, and as we did that, we began to turn it into opportunities for us on the offensive end. The 16-0 run at the end of the first half was big for us, and as we started getting stops, you could sense the game changing in our favor."
 
On the team's play in the second half: "We've been playing well in the first half of games, but losing focus in the second half, and allowing teams to dictate the game," Mack said. "I thought tonight we played very well in the second half, and forced their shooting percentages down, while ours went up. Our style of play dictates that nine or ten guys have to be committed every game to doing things the right way, and we did that tonight."
 
On the rivalry with Cairn: "This was not a rematch game from last season for us," Mack said. "The guys from last year's team remember, but that's not fair to our new guys. This is about our 2020-21 team, and I thought we played well as a team tonight, and really dictated the pace and style of play."
 
News & Notes: This was the 91^st all-time meeting between the two teams…Lancaster Bible is now 30-61 all-time against the Highlanders…The Chargers are 2-1 at home this season…Shewbridge has 20 or more points in each of Lancaster Bible's four wins this season…Britton Beachy's 15 points are his most in a game since last season when he had 16 against Penn St. Abington on Jan. 25…Zentner has scored in double figures in three of six countable contests for the Chargers this season…Lancaster Bible's 18 assists were the second-highest output of the season…Tyler Norris and Tyler Hilton were guests on the Horse with No Name Podcast this week, as Norris talked about a student-led group of student-athletes who helped raise money for the Donald H. Funk Field Stadium Project, and Hilton discussed his four seasons as a member of the Lancaster Bible Men's Basketball program.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Moravian on Tuesday at 8 p.m…The game can be seen on the Chargers Sports Network.