The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team extended the fourth longest winning streak in NCAA Division III on Tuesday night as the Chargers used some strong late-game plays to defeat Valley Forge, 76-69 at Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers have won 12 straight games and have not lost since an opening day defeat to Messiah on November 15. 

Tuesday night's game was tight throughout as neither team led by more than 10 points. Valley Forge, having had a week off prior to the game, put the pressure on defensively for 40 minutes and at times bothered the Chargers to no end. In the first half, the Chargers led 15-9 with 13:46 remaining, but it would be almost three minutes before another point was scored as the teams both went cold from the floor.

Valley Forge's defense began to cause more and more problems for the Chargers as the half went on and after the Patriots' Jean Leblanc was fouled on a 3-point attempt, his three straight free throws cut the Chargers' lead to 22-21. From there however, Lancaster Bible went on its longest scoring run of the game as Dondre Perry and CJ Dunston scored on back-to-back possessions and a minute later Albert Suniga hit a 3-pointer, which he followed up with two free throws 30 seconds later to complete Lancaster Bible's 9-0 run and give the home team a 31-21 lead with 3:31 to play in the first half.

The Patriots trimmed the deficit to five by halftime and opened the second half on a 11-7 run to trail 47-46 with 16:09 to play in the game. Valley Forge scratched and clawed for much of the first 10 minutes to catch the Chargers and finally did when Joseph Taylor hit both free throws with 8:38 to play to tie the game at 56-56. 

If tying the game didn't energize the Patriots, a minute later they took the lead on a 3-pointer by senior Kevin Mack. The three points gave Mack 1,001 for his career and threw the Valley Forge bench and fans into a frenzy. 

The lead didn't last long as Dunston was fouled on Lancaster Bible's next possession and his back-to-back free throws gave the Chargers a one point lead. The game would teeter back-and-forth from there, but in a game that saw a combined 47 fouls, much of the scoring the rest of the way came via the foul line. After two free throws from Naheer Mirza gave the Chargers a 67-63 lead, the teams traded scoreless possessions before Joseph drove baseline with 3:54 to play and slammed home a dunk to cut the deficit to 67-65.

A free throw by Perry followed by a jumper by Dunston gave Lancaster Bible a 70-65 advantage with 3:24 to play. Try as they might, the Patriots could not cut the deficit any closer than four the rest of the way. With 17 seconds to play, Dunston ensured a Lancaster Bible win with one of the signature plays of the game. After Suniga hit a free throw to put the Chargers ahead, 74-69, the Patriots attempted to roll the ball into play so the clock would not start and they could advance up the floor. As he turned to run up the floor, Dunston saw what was happening and turned and dove on the floor and grabbed the ball away from one of Valley Forge's players. He then passed the ball to Suniga who was fouled. Suniga's two free throws sealed the victory for the Chargers who have now defeated Valley Forge three straight times.

Suniga finished with a team-high 21 points and added nine rebounds and three assists, while Perry had 17 points and eight boards. Dunston had 10 points, eight boards, three assists, three steals and Mirza chipped in with 12 points. Senior Corey Leonard had his second straight strong game as he had nine points and three assists in 26 minutes.

"We found a way to win and that's a good thing," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Marshall Tague said. "We struggled with their pressure, but some of those little plays we made down the stretch, whether it be on the offensive glass or CJ's big play, were just what we needed."

Tague was pleased with Lancaster Bible's free throw percentage (26-of-34, 76.5%) and the team's rebounding advantage over the Patriots (43-25), but said there were a few things the Chargers need to fix as well.

"We had too many turnovers and not enough shot attempts," Tague said. "We need to be able handle defensive pressure better than that and not turn the ball over as much."

Taylor led all scorers with 22 points for Valley Forge, while Mack had 14 points and five assists.

Tuesday marked the first of three games for Lancaster Bible this week. The Chargers make their first trip to New York this season on Friday and Saturday and will face Keuka on Friday night at 8 p.m. and then turn around and play Wells at 2 p.m. the following day.

Notes:
-Valley Forge leads the all-time series, 65-27.

-Lancaster Bible's plus-18 rebounding margin on Tuesday night was its second largest of the season. The Chargers had 22 more rebounds than Cairn on January 5.

-Tuesday was Lancaster Bible's final non-conference game of the season. The Chargers finished 6-1 in their seven non-conference games this season, including a perfect 4-0 mark at Horst Athletic Center.

-Marietta (15), Chapman (14), Albertus Magnus (13) currently have longer winning streaks in NCAA Division III than the Chargers.