The Lancaster Bible College men's basketball team completed their New York trip on Saturday at Wells College with a convincing 87-65 win. The Chargers now sit 11-1 in United East Conference play and 14-7 overall while Wells moves to 6-6 in conference play and 11-11 overall.
 
How It Happened: Several shots rimmed in and out at the start of the first half for both teams. It wasn't until two minutes in when a Wells jumper put the first two points on the board. The Chargers responded with a jumper of their own from graduate student Jordan Shewbridge. After taking the lid off the basket, the two teams began to trade points with Wells managing to stay ahead. Two free throws from Shewbridge and a layup from Adam Stoltzfus with just under 12 minutes to go put the Chargers up for the first time, 18-15. The teams proceeded to trade baskets with Wells, reclaiming the lead before the end of the half. The Chargers were down 34-40 heading into halftime.
 
Looking to get something going in the second half, junior Grant Sareyka started things off with a three-point field goal off a steal from Seth Beers, bringing the Chargers within three. Shewbridge added another layup to get within one point, but Wells responded with a few buckets of their own, growing the Charger deficit to seven points. A thunderous dunk down the middle of the lane from Andrew Zentner on a pass from Shewbridge brought the Chargers within two again. Malachi McDowell had a huge steal following the dunk that led to a layup from Shewbridge to tie the game, then Sareyka's layup would put the Chargers up by two. Shewbridge hit a corner three to cap off a huge 12-0 run for the Chargers and what seemed to be the turning point for the game. Thanks to an increased defensive intensity in the second half and several great efforts from a number of Charger players on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, the Chargers cruised to their seventh straight win in a convincing 87-65 performance.
 
From the Coach: "I thought we played a purpose-driven second half on both ends of the floor today.  We struggled to defend the ball in the first half (and the first bit of the second half) which allowed them to be comfortable offensively.  When we started to become more active defensively by mixing up our defenses, I thought our energy changed and our defense turned to offense which created our separation. 

Offensively, I thought we moved the ball and our bodies much better in the second half to take advantages of match-ups. Another key contributor was the production of our bigs in the paint and our bench production. We battled foul trouble the entire game, but our production on both ends increased with our bench.  

This is always a tough back-to-back road trip against two quality conference foes (Morrisville and Wells) and to go 2-0 on this trip speaks volumes of the character and focus of our team right now." - Head Coach Jon Mack

By the Numbers: The Chargers shot 48.4 percent (30-62) from the field and 36.4 percent (8-22) from beyond the arc… the Express shot 44 percent (22-50) and 23.5 percent (4-17) from three point land… the Chargers had 34 points off turnovers and got 29 points from the bench… Grant Sareyka led all scorers with 26 points and five three point field goals… the Chargers had three others in double figures as well with Shewbridge, Zentner, and Stoltzfus having 16, 14, and 10 respectively… Rodriguez led Wells with 19 points.
 
Information to Know: The Chargers have officially clinched their 9th straight trip to the United East Conference playoffs, which are set to take place on February 24^th and 25^th. The location is still yet to be determined.
 
Up Next: The Chargers will hit the road again on Wednesday, February 8^th to play against United East foe Penn College; tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.