The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team is set to host the United East Conference Playoffs for the second consecutive season this weekend, as the top-seeded Chargers will host fourth-seeded Wells on Friday at 5 p.m. Following the completion of the opener, second-seeded Penn St. Harrisburg will battle third-seeded Penn St. Abington at Horst Athletic Center. Friday's semifinal winners will face off in the United East Conference Final on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Lancaster, Pa.
 
Lancaster Bible will look to advance to the conference final for the third straight season, while Wells will be looking for its first conference final appearance since 2013.
 
Team Records
No. 4 Wells: 14-11, 9-7 United East
No. 1 Lancaster Bible: 18-7, 15-1 United East
 
Regular Season Contests
Jan. 21, 2023 (at LBC – LBC Wins, 72-62): The Chargers led by five at the half, but the Express closed the gap to one early in the second half, as the teams went back-and-forth for nearly 15 minutes. Lancaster Bible slowly began to pull away and six straight points from Jordan Shewbridge expanded the lead to 15 with under seven minutes to play, as the Chargers won by 10. Shewbridge finished with a game-high 22 points, while Grant Sareyka added 21. Ransel Rodriguez led the Express with 19 points.
 
Feb. 4, 2023 (at WEL – LBC Wins, 87-65): The Chargers trailed by seven early in the second half, but used a 19-2 run over a six-minute span to take a lead they would never lose, as Lancaster Bible outscored Wells, 53-25 in the second frame to earn the victory. Sareyka led all scorers with 26 points, while Shewbridge added 16 and Andrew Zentner had 14. Rodriguez once again had 19 points to pace the Express, while Ivan Oduro-Dompreh added 16 points and eight rebounds.
 
Series Notes
Lancaster Bible leads the all-time series 13-2…The Chargers have won the previous six meetings against the Express…This marks the second straight season these teams will have met in the United East Playoffs…The Chargers won last season's United East Semifinal contest, 94-80, as Sareyka led four players in double figures…Lancaster Bible holds a perfect 7-0 record against Wells at Horst Athletic Center.
 
Wells Notes
The Express lost their first four games of the season, but rattled off five wins in their final six games of the first semester and entered Christmas break with a 5-5 record…Wells continued their strong play early in January with four wins in five games, including a 67-65 victory at Penn St. Abington on Jan. 14…After a 2-4 stretch in late January and early February, Wells won three straight, including a key victory at SUNY Morrisville on Feb. 14 that wound up propelling the Express to the United East's final playoff berth…Terrance Clayton-Murphy leads Wells with 18.2 points per game, while last year's United East Rookie of the Year Ransel Rodriguez averages 10.6 points and 6.0 assists per contest…Wells is tied for second in points per game in the United East at 75.4 points per contest.
 
Lancaster Bible Notes
The Chargers are 10-1 at home this season and enter the United East Playoffs having won 11 straight games…Lancaster Bible leads the conference with 80.6 points per game, and also leads the United East in field goal percentage at 45.8 percent…The Chargers are led by United East Conference Player of the Year Jordan Shewbridge's 17.7 points per game, while fellow United East All-Conference First Team selection Grant Sareyka averages 15.8 points per contest…Lancaster Bible's 11-game winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest streak in program history, and is the fifth time in the past eight seasons the Chargers have won at least 11 games in a row during a single season…Andrew Zentner also averages 12 points per game and has a United East-leading 57 blocks, while Adam Stoltzfus sits at 11.2 points and a conference-best 9.8 rebounds per game…Seth Beers does a little bit of everything with 7.1 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game, while Ethan Beachy, Malachi McDowell, Ty Erisman, Jordan Praylow, and Isaiah Mitchell provide solid minutes off the bench.
 
Other United East Semifinal
No. 3 Penn St. Abington (17-8, 11-5 UEC) vs. No. 2 Penn St. Harrisburg (15-10, 12-4 UEC), 7:30 p.m.
 
How to Follow
All three United East Playoff contests will be broadcast on the Chargers Sports Network.