On Friday, the Chargers were led by senior Naheer Mirza and junior CJ Dunston. Both were remarkable in the first half as Mirza did his work from long range, while Dunston did his work above the rim. Mirza was an incredible 7-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first half as he drained 3-pointer after 3-pointer. Dunston meanwhile nearly blew the roof off of the building with his thunderous dunks. His one-handed alley-oop slam (see picture above) sent the crowd into a frenzy and gave the Chargers the momentum they needed to take a 45-29 lead into halftime. 

Though the Chargers led by 16 at the break, the first half was one of large scoring runs as Lancaster Bible led 23-11 midway through the opening half before Gallaudet went on its own 13-0 run over a three minute span to quickly take a 24-23 lead with 6:57 to play. From there though it was all Chargers as Lancaster Bible ended the half on a 22-5 run that was capped by Mirza's seventh 3-pointer of the half with four seconds to play. The Chargers shot an unbelievable 16-of-21 (76.2 percent) from the field in the first 20 minutes, including 8-of-12 from beyond the arc.

Try as they might, Gallaudet never got close in the second half as the Chargers pulled away thanks to solid bench play that was led by junior Jordan Mellinger.Mellinger finished with 12 points, three assists and two steals. Mirza finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, while Dunston had 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Senior Albert Suniga added seven points, seven assists and six rebounds, while Dondre Perry had 12 points. 

"The guys had a great week of preparation and took everything seriously," Lancaster Bible Head CoachMarshall Tague said. "With the ability that they all have, good things can happen and we saw that tonight."

In addition to the preparation off the court, Tague credited the team's aibility to practice well this week as another key to the victory.

"I was anxious like I always am before the game, but we had good practices this week and there wasn't much more we could go over," Tague said. "The guys did well the past few days and the main thing was, they didn't want the NEAC Final Four to be anywhere but right here in Lancaster."

While Tague was obviously happy with Mirza's point total, he was more pleased about his positioning on the floor as well as his shot selection.

"We try to get him into those spots he was in tonight and it just wasn't there when we played Gallaudet a few weeks ago," Tague said. "We all know he can do what he did tonight and the best part was, he didn't force a single shot for the first time all season and did a great job of knowing when to shoot and when to pass."

The Chargers held a 32-14 rebounding edge, including a 10-3 advantage on the offensive glass, something Tague was very happy about.

"We had 20 missed shots, but got half of them back with 10 offensive boards," Tague said. " I thought the rebounding was a big deal tonight."

Lancaster Bible is now 22-2 overall and 16-1 in NEAC play. The Chargers will wrap-up the regular season on Saturday when they host Wilson at 1 p.m. 

Notes:
-With his 22 points on Friday, Dunston is now just 41 points from reaching 1,000.

-After Saturday, Lancaster Bible will be off for a week before they host a NEAC Semifinal on Saturday, February 28.

-Lancaster Bible will face the winner of the NEAC North Division Quarterfinal that pits the number two seed against the number three seed.