After hitting the snooze and needing 10 minutes to wake up on Saturday at Penn St. Berks, the Lancaster Bible men's basketball team was up and at 'em on Tuesday night at Horst Athletic Center as the Chargers hit six of their first seven shots and cruised to a 79-56 victory over Bryn Athyn on World Team Night. The victory sends the Chargers to 18-2 overall and 12-1 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play. 

On Tuesday, Lancaster Bible senior Albert Suniga hit back-to-back 3-pointers on the Chargers' first two possessions and set the scoring tone early for the home team. Suniga grabbed an offensive rebound on Lancaster Bible's next possession and layed home the ball five seconds later to give the Chargers an 8-1 lead just 1:37 into the game. After Bryn Athyn finally began finding the hoop, Jordan Mellinger hit Lancaster Bible's third 3-pointer of the game at the 13:29 game to give the Chargers a 20-11 lead. 

Senior Naheer Mirza, who finished with a game-high 16 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting night, hit another 3-pointer on the Chargers' next possession and gave Lancaster Bible a 12-point lead, 23-11, 6:57 into the contest. A jumper from fellow senior Corey Leonard 35 seconds later capped an 8-0 run for Lancaster Bible and the Chargers never looked back. 

Bryn Athyn (5-16, 5-9 NEAC) would cut the deficit to six (25-19) at one point in the first half, but Lancaster Bible went on a 13-4 run immediately after that and stretched its lead to 15 on a layup from Dondre Perry with 2:41 remaining in the first half. Lancaster Bible took a 40-27 lead into halftime as the Chargers shot 61.5 percent (16-of-26) in the first half, including 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from beyond the arc.

"I think for Albert especially it was comforting to see that first one go in," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Marshall Tague said. "Once that one went in, it seemed to be contagious for the whole team, especially early on, which is good for everyone."

Bryn Athyn would never make a serious run in the second half and Lancaster Bible stretched its lead to as many as 25 in the second half as the Chargers improved to 10-0 at home this season. Lancaster Bible's highlight of the second half was Marquis Boone's reverse layup with 1:14 remaining. After stealing the ball at mid-court, Boone raced up the floor and maneuvered around a defender and laid the ball in for his second bucket of the season. (CJ Dunston's thunderous alley-oop dunk from Mirza was a close second.)

Suniga finished with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Dunston had eight points, a season-high seven assists and six rebounds. Perry added nine points and nine boards and Mellinger, who played well for the third straight game, chipped in with eight points. Senior Corey Leonard added nine points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with his two rebounds and fellow senior Dave Long had four points and a steal in nine minutes of action.

"The guys are starting to sense that this is the time of year they need to start playing well and I think we are seeing that come out," Tague said. "Albert, Naheer, CJ or Dre can all go for 15-20 points a game and they are all willing to give it to the other guy. They are unselfish and it's fun to watch."

Lancaster Bible matched a season-low with 10 turnovers, but more important to Tague, the team had 20 or more assists for the fourth time this season.

"It is important to all of us to take care of the ball and take ownership of what we are trying to accomplish," Tague said. "We want to play our best basketball at this point of the season and I think we are getting there."

Lancaster Bible will now get ready for its biggest road trip of the season as the Chargers head to New York on Friday and Saturday for dates with SUNY Polytechnic and SUNY Cobleskill. Saturday's game at SUNY Cobleskill could decide the host of the NEAC Final Four at the end of the month as the Fighting Tigers and Chargers currently lead their respective divisions. The host of the NEAC Final Four is determined by the game between the winners of each division. Thus, if the standings remain the same until the end of the season, Saturday's winner would be the host of the NEAC Final Four.

Friday's game at SUNY Polytechnic is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m., while Saturday's tilt at SUNY Cobleskill is slated for a 3 p.m. start.

Notes:
-Lancaster Bible is now 4-1 all-time against Bryn Athyn.

-Lancaster Bible owns a 1 1/2 game lead over Gallaudet in the NEAC South Division. The Bison have four games remaining, while the Chargers have five games left.