The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team overcame a slow start on Saturday in Reading, Pa. to defeat Penn St. Berks, 85-69. The victory improves the Chargers to 17-2 overall and 11-1 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Lancaster Bible holds a 1 1/2 game lead over Gallaudet in the NEAC South Division. The Chargers have six games remaining, while the Bison have just five.

Though the Chargers never trailed by more than six in the first 10 minutes of the game on Saturday, their inability to get a defensive stop and sustain an offensive attack on the other end of the floor plagued them throughout the opening 10 minutes. After going down 21-15 with 11:57 to play in the first half, Lancaster Bible used a 11-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 26-23 lead. Jordan Mellinger, who played one of his best games of the season on Saturday, capped the scoring run with a 3-pointer. Mellinger finished with a season-high 12 points and added two steals.

"Jordan was tremendous in the first half," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Marshall Tague said. "He was all over the place and took the ball to the hoop. This was his best game of the season."

Once the Chargers got going offensively, they didn't stop, as they scored 52 points in the first half and took an 11-point lead into halftime. Though the team was happy with the offensive outburst, its defense was lackluster as they allowed 41 points. With that in mind, Lancaster Bible clamped down defensively in the second half and held the Nittany Lions to just 9-of-33 shooting in the second half, including 3-of-11 from beyond the arc.

"The defense in the second half kicked it into high gear and the guys were just really good," Tague said of his team. "This was a solid road win for us, especially after the slow start."

Dunston led all scorers with 18 points and he also pulled down eight rebounds. Senior Albert Suniga had 16 points, five boards and three steals as he shot 7-of-11 from the floor.

"It was old Albert today," Tague said. "He took the ball to the hoop and was good on both ends of the floor."

Senior Naheer Mirza was the fourth and final player in double figures as he had 10 points to go with his six assists and three boards. Lancaster Bible shot 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) in the first half, but settled for a 29-of-62 (46.8 percent) effort for the entire game after shooting just 12-of-34 (35.3 percent) in the second half.

Lancaster Bible finished the week 2-0 against the Penn State teams from the conference as they defeated Penn St. Abington, 94-68 on Wednesday. More importantly for Tague and the rest of the Chargers was the group's response to a difficult and disappointing week last week when the Chargers defeated Wilson in overtime and then got drilled in Gallaudet.

"Last week was not very good and it felt like the team went through a week-long hiccup," Tague said. "This week we responded well and I thought we had a clear response from game to game, half to half, even minute to minute at some points."

The Chargers return to action on Tuesday when they host Bryn Athyn at 8 p.m. Lancaster Bible defeated the Lions, 67-50 on December 6. 

Notes:
-Lancaster Bible is now 8-5 all-time against Penn St. Berks

-There are still many playoff scenarios regarding the Chargers, but with just two weeks remaining, things are beginning to clear up. With SUNY Cobleskill currently holding a one-game lead in the NEAC North Division and the Chargers leading the NEAC South Division, next Saturday's game in Cobleskill, N.Y. looms as a potential pseudo-playoff game as the winner would then hold the tie-breaker and the inside track to hosting the NEAC Final Four. 

-The host of the NEAC Final Four is determined by the winner in the game of the two division winners. Thus, if the Chargers and SUNY Cobleskill win their respective divisions, the winner of that regular season game would be the host of the Final Four. Keuka is currently in second place in the NEAC North Division. Lancaster Bible defeated the Wolfpack 66-57 on January 23.