The Lancaster Bible College Men's Basketball team opened the 2023-24 season in Hamburg, N.Y. at the Hawks vs. Hunger Tournament hosted by Hilbert. The Chargers defeated the Allegheny Gators in overtime, 118-110, paced by 46 points from senior
Grant Sareyka. The win moves the Chargers to 1-0 on the program while the Gators drop to 0-2 overall.
How It Happened: A new season for the Chargers, tonight was the first test for the program, battling versus a strong Gators squad. The two programs traded points and the lead multiple times to start the game. It was with nine minutes left in the first half that the Chargers found themselves with their largest lead of the game off a three-point field goal from graduate student
Ty Erisman.
Facing foul trouble early, the Gators hung around managing to retake the lead with under six minutes left and didn't give it back for the remainder of the first half. The Chargers headed into halftime down seven points, 50-43.
A fresh half, the Chargers were able to play those involved in the foul trouble, getting quick buckets from senior
Grant Sareyka and junior
Luke Rumbaugh. Although the Gators continued to keep the lead through the second half, the Chargers continued to chip away, including 16 points in the first 10 minutes from Sareyka. It was freshman
Jasir Johnson's two made free throws that put the Chargers on top, 73-72 for the first time since early in the first half.
Continuing to keep the pace, the two visiting squads found themselves all tied at 84-84 with just five minutes left to play. Sareyka and senior
Seth Beers got back-to-back layups to push it to 89-86, but the Gators responded, tying it at 91-91 with 2:28 left. The Chargers managed to keep just slightly ahead of the Gators, exchanging free throws and buckets. With just ten seconds left on the game clock the Chargers led 100-98, but a late foul led to two clutch free throws from the Gators to end regulation 100-100 and send the game to overtime.
Having to battle for the Chargers' first win of the season, the young squad came up big in overtime, going ahead 116-110 as Sareyka scored his final six of his career-high 46 points tonight. The Chargers went on to complete the overtime win 118-110 and start the season 1-0.
From the Coach: "
Very proud of our fight and grit to pull this game out against a very good team. I thought we had a growth moment in overtime after failing to close the game out in regulation. We are fairly an inexperienced team which showed tonight at times, but I thought our experienced guys influenced the outcome we desired.
Although, we scored a lot of points, we also gave up a lot defensively by not guarding the ball and blocking out. Too many paint touches that led to layups and open threes. We must improve in these two areas sooner than later. We are very fortunate to walk away with this win. We need to have a better defensive performance tomorrow against a very good Clarkson team." – Head Coach Jon Mack
By the Numbers: The Chargers shot 51 percent from the field and 34 percent from beyond the arc… the Gators shot 52 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point land… the Chargers lost the rebound battle by seven but tallied 16 assists and 16 steals… the Chargers finished with 54 points in the paint and 32 points off turnovers while the Gators had 48 points in the paint and 23 points off turnovers… Sareyka had a game-high and career high 46 points, going 13-19 from the charity stripe… Beers added 19 points and six assists…
Luke Rumbaugh,
Isaiah Mitchell, and
Daniel King all finished in double-figures… Andre Wilder led the Gators with 39 points.
Information to Know: Sareyka's 46 points was the most points in a game since Sam Rempel had 46 against Baptist Bible East (Mass.) on January 20, 2000. He is only the third player in program history to score 46 or more points in a game – Rempel and David Green. This was the first time the two opponents have matched up against each other in program history. Senior
Seth Beers entered the top-10 in program history for assists after dishing six tonight, passing Brian Fountain (1986-89, '90-'91) for 10th all-time at 259 assists.
Up Next: The Chargers will play in the Championship Game versus Clarkson on Saturday, November 11 at 3:00 p.m.
