The Lancaster Bible College Men's Basketball team lost a thriller in overtime to Marietta College in San Juan, Puerto Rico by a score of 99-97 on Wednesday afternoon. The Chargers conclude their trip 1-1 to put them at 4-8 on the season, while the Pioneers improve to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the OAC.
 
How it Happened: It was Maureon Tisdale-Couch who got the scoring started with a layup two minutes in, then Connor Storr made a jumper to put LBC up 4-2 early. Later in the half, Grant Sareyka hit a 3-pointer to boost the lead to four and Daniel King finished an and-one jumper to make it 14-9 Chargers. The Pioneers kept within two possessions for the rest of the half, trailing by just three with 4:53 left in the half. Ty Erisman and Sareyka both scored to keep the Chargers in front, but Marietta finished on a 9-2 run to take a 43-40 lead into halftime.
 
Right out of the gate, Seth Beers found Storr for a 3-pointer to tie the game at 43, but the Pioneers scored seven in a row to put the Chargers down seven. Finding themselves down double-digits with 14 minutes to play, Beers connected on back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to just five, then assisted Storr on a layup to make it a two point game. Marietta kept the Chargers at bay for the next few minutes, then Sareyka exploded for 10 straight points to propel LBC in front 72-69 with under five minutes in regulation. The two teams went almost bucket-for-bucket until the end of the half where a pair of Pioneer free throws tied the game at 85 to send it to overtime.
 
Marietta hit a three to take an early 90-86 lead in overtime, but the Chargers battled back with free throws from King and Sareyka. With just 30 seconds remaining, Luke Rumbaugh drew a foul and hit three free throws in a row to bring LBC within one, but they could not capitalize, falling in overtime 99-97.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers scored more points in the paint (34-24) and dominated in points off turnovers (29-8), while Marietta led in bench points (40-29) and offensive rebounds (18-11)
- Lancaster Bible shot 29-64 (45.3%) from the field and 29-44 (65.9%) on free throws, while the Pioneers shot 27-61 (44.3%) overall and 33-40 (82.5%) from the line
- Senior Grant Sareyka led all scorers with 30 points, shooting 4-6 from deep and 12-17 from the charity stripe
- Connor Storr tied his career-high with 19 points, adding four rebounds and three assists
- Luke Rumbaugh and Seth Beers each reached double-figures with 15 and 14 points respectively
- The Pioneers were led by Jac Alexander who had 29 points and shot 8-8 on free throws
 
Information to Know: This was the Chargers' first matchup with Marietta in program history. The Chargers played their third overtime game of the season today and are now 1-2 in extra time for the season. Lancaster Bible had four players with 10+ points for the fifth time this season and just the second game with four players scoring 14+ points (vs Allegheny on November 10). Both teams shot a combined 84 free throws, the most in a game this season. Senior Seth Beers reached a pair of career milestones today, grabbing both his 300^th career rebound and his 100^th career steal, making him just the 16^th player in program history to record 100+ steals. Fellow senior Grant Sareyka connected on his 150^th career 3-point field goal, the sixth player in Charger history to make 150+ threes.
 
Up Next: The Chargers will rest for the holiday season as their next game will be on the road against Pitt-Greensburg on Sunday, December 31 at 1:00 p.m.