The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team returned home for the first time in almost two weeks on Thursday night and kept its perfect season intact as the Chargers defeated Keuka, 100-80 at Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers are now 13-0 overall and 7-0 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while the Wolfpack dropped to 6-8 overall and 3-5 in conference action.
How it Happened: For many games this season, Lancaster Bible has been the team to jump out to an early lead, but it was Keuka who had the quick start and took advantage of a surprising cold streak from the Chargers and tied the game at 18-18 with 11:49 remaining in the first half. After a jumper from Keuka's Jelani Fontanez tied the game at 20-20 less than a minute later, the Chargers used an 8-0 run over the next 2:04 to grab a 28-20 advantage. Kurt Keltner and CJ Dunstonhad all eight points during the scoring run, but the Wolfpack wouldn't go away and cut their deficit to 32-29 thanks to a 3-pointer from Greg Tyler with 7:04 to play in the opening half.
The Chargers' lead fluctuated from 11 points down to five points over the final minutes of the half before the home team finally took a 52-43 lead into halftime. The 52 points in the first half marked the 13th time this season the Chargers have scored 50+ points in a half and the 10th straight game they have accomplished the feat.
Lancaster Bible put the pedal on the floor from the outset of the second half as the Chargers used a 9-0 run over the opening 1:54 to open up a 61-43 lead. Senior Dondre Perry eclipsed the 1,000-point mark during the run as he became the 22nd player in Lancaster Bible Men's Basketball history to top the mark. Perry's dunk off a feed from Jordan Mellinger three minutes later gave the Chargers a 68-50 lead with 15:52 to play and it was Mellinger who caught fire early in the second half as he buried four 3-pointers in the first 8:29, the last of which gave Lancaster Bible an 83-56 lead.
Perry put an exclamation point on Lancaster Bible's second half offensive explosion as he took a feed off of the backboard from Bryce Williams and threw it down, sending the Red Sea Student Section into a frenzy and giving the Chargers an 89-64 advantage with 8:19 to play.
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 41-of-73 (56.2 percent) from the floor, the team's fourth-best mark of the season...The Chargers shot just 11 free throws, but converted 10 of them...Senior CJ Dunston led the Chargers with a game-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds and added four steals...Junior Kurt Keltner added his second straight 20-point game as he had 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and had six rebounds...Perry finished with 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Mellinger had 14 points...Williams was the fifth and final starter in double figures with 11 points and he also added five assists...Herbie Brown andJon Bird each had six points off of the bench for the Chargers...Lancaster Bible forced 19 turnovers and only committed seven...The Chargers had 33 points off of those turnovers, while Keuka had just one...Keuka's Greg Tyler led the team with 21 points.
The Coach Says: On the team's first half performance and what was said at halftime..."I told them we needed to wake up defensively," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "Some of the stuff Keuka was running was giving us fits, but we figured some things out and simply needed to execute better on both ends of the floor."
On having all five starters in double figures..."We are tough to guard and we have capable guys all over the floor," Filzen said. "We have lots of weapons. We have guys who can shot, guys who can put the ball on the floor and lots of team speed."
On Perry reaching the 1,000-point plateau..."He's a very important piece to our team," Filzen said. "It almost seems like he can be forgotten at times, but he shows up at big times and attacks the rim and brings good energy. Reaching 1,000 points is special and I'm very happy for him."
Extra! Extra!: Dating back to last season, the Chargers have now won 17 straight games...Lancaster Bible has a two-game lead in the NEAC South Division as Gallaudet is in second place with a 5-2 mark...The Chargers are now 5-2 all-time against Keuka...Lancaster Bible remains one of four teams in NCAA Division III without a loss...The other teams are Benedictine (Ill.), John Carroll and Whitworth.
Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Wells on Friday at 2 p.m...The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday at 1 p.m., but was moved up due to the impending snow that is approaching the region.