The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team opened their 2022-23 season Friday night at the Bridgewater College Tip-Off Classic in Bridgewater, Virginia. In a highly anticipated non-conference schedule, the Chargers captured their first win of the season in a 68-66 win over the Royals behind high-intensity pressure and a clutch free throw shooting performance. The Chargers start the season 1-0 overall, and the Royals move to 0-1.
How It Happened: The first contest of the Chargers' and Royals' 2022-23 season was a dogfight from the start, including the score being tied 13 times and lead being changed a total of nine times. The Royals grabbed the first lead of the game just three minutes in, but the Chargers stormed back to grab their largest lead of the game, 19-13, behind two layups from junior
Andrew Zentner and a fast break layup from senior
Ty Erisman with 10:30 left in the first half. From there the Royals would look to cut the deficit several times, but the Chargers' defensive pressure and offensive tempo kept the lead for the remainder of the game going into halftime up 26-24.
Coming out of halftime, the Royals responded with five unanswered points to take the lead 26-29 early in the second half. Two made free throws from
Seth Beers and an and-1 from fellow junior
Grant Sareyka took the lead back for the Chargers 30-29 at the 15:22 mark. Sareyka again made two more of his nine made free throws for the night and a jumper from senior
Adam Stoltzfus pushed the Charger lead to 34-29, the largest lead of the second half. Controlling the lead and withstanding any Royals run, at the three minute mark a made three point field goal gave the Royals a 57-55 lead. Two made free throws from
Jordan Shewbridge tied the game at 57 but the Royals responded with a layup keep their lead at two points.
The Chargers would tie the score twice more before
Jordan Shewbridge converted an and-1 off an assist from Sareyka to retake the lead 62-61. A Charger foul gave the Royals two free throws, resulting in a one point deficit, but a mere four seconds later the Chargers pushed the ball down the floor and found a wide open Stoltzfus for the layup and 64-63 lead. The Charger defense forced another Royals turnover, putting Shewbridge on the foul line who knocked in both and gave the Chargers a 66-63 lead. Sareyka made key defensive play, stealing a pass on the Royals transition getting him to the foul line for him to make his eighth and ninth free throw in a row for the game, and Chargers lead 68-63 with just 21 seconds to go. The Royals made a three with one second and the Chargers got in the ball for the clock to hit zero and secure their first win of the season.
From the Coach: "Proud of our resilience and will to find a way to win a slugfest tonight. It was obvious that this was an opening game for both teams.
I thought we really struggled to guard the ball that forced way too many rotations which was taking us out of rebounding positioning and allowing EMU to control the glass in the first half.
In the second half, I thought we did a much better job on the glass but still struggled to keep the ball out of the paint. Although we struggled offensively most of the night, I thought we made tough offensive (and defensively) plays in the last 5 minutes of the game to win the game.
I loved our effort today, but our execution must match our effort to win games against tough opponents. Tomorrow will be another tough test on the road against a well discipline and coached Bridgewater team." - Head Coach Jon Mack
By the Numbers: The Chargers shot 38.6% (22-57) from the field and an impressive 83.3% (20-24) from the foul line… despite being outsized the Chargers won the rebound battle by one and scored 24 points off 21 Royals turnovers… the Chargers also tallied 16 fast break points…
Grant Sareyka led all players with 16 points including a perfect 9-9 from the foul line and added three steals…
Jordan Shewbridge tallied 15 points and went 9-10 from the foul line…
Adam Stoltzfus scored his first double-double of the season behind 13 points and 10 rebounds…
Seth Beers added six points and four assists… Aviwe Mahlong and DaiJordan Brown had 15 and 14 points respectively for the Royals.
Information to Know: Coach
Jon Mack and the program has now won their third season-opening game in a row, beating Baruch last year 78-76 and St. Mary's (Md.) in 2020, 99-86.
Up Next: The Chargers will compete tomorrow, November 12
th in the second game of the Bridgewater College Tip-Off Classic against host school Bridgewater at 3:00 p.m.
