The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team opened its season with a victory on Tuesday night as the Chargers downed Lancaster County neighbor Elizabethtown, 90-77 at Thompson Gymnasium in Elizabethtown, Pa. The season-opening game win is the first for the Chargers since the 2008-09 season when Lancaster Bible defeated D'Youville, 70-61.

How it Happened: Lancaster Bible got off to a good start as a CJ Dunston dunk in transition gave the Chargers an early 5-1 lead, 2:17 into the game. As both teams settled in, they began to trade baskets and it was the host Blue Jays who held the biggest lead of the half at 16-11 after a Josh Eden layup with 13:11 to play. Dunston restored the Chargers' lead less than two minutes later as he slammed home another dunk to give Lancaster Bible a 17-16 lead and cap a 6-0 scoring run.

The teams once again engaged in a back-and-forth and the Chargers eventually took a 39-36 lead into halftime. The first half was played at a snail's pace as there were 26 combined fouls. Lancaster Bible shot just 13-of-35 (37.1 percent) in the opening 20 minutes, but were 10-of-14 from the free line. Elizabethtown shot 14-of-29 (48.3 percent) in the first half, but struggled from the charity stripe, shooting 7-of-14.

Both teams kicked their offense into gear in the second half as the teams combined for 92 points. Another layup from Eden with 16:12 to play gave the Blue Jays a 48-47 lead, but Lancaster Bible junior Bryce Williams came right down the floor and hit the second of his three 3-pointers in a three minute span to give the Chargers a 50-48 lead.

Lancaster Bible maintained its lead over the next four minutes, though a Matt Lapkowicz 3-pointer with 10:16 to play cut the Blue Jays' deficit to four at 65-61. The Chargers put the clamp down defensively over the next four minutes and went on a 6-0 run to take a 71-61 lead with 6:22 to play after two free throws from senior Jordan Mellinger. Mellinger's next two shots put the game away for the Chargers as he knocked down 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions and gave Lancaster Bible a 79-68 lead with 4:58 to play.

The Chargers would eventually take a lead of 14 points before winning by 13 and scoring 90 points for the first time since Feb. 20, 2015 when Lancaster Bible defeated Gallaudet, 92-60.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible ended up shooting 46.3 percent (31-of-67) from the floor thanks to an 18-of-32 second half effort...Williams finished with a team-high 19 points and added four rebounds and three assists, while Mellinger and Dondre Perry each had 16 points...Dunston added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds and sophomore Herbie Brown was the fifth Chargers' player in double figures with 10 points...Freshman Jonah Attoe also had eight points in 12 minutes, all of which came in the first half...The Chargers had just 13 turnovers and outrebounded the Blue Jays, 44-33.

The Coach Says: "It's good to get the first win and the guys fought and found a way tonight," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "We have a long way to go and need to get better over the next few days before the weekend. We need to run our offense better and just polish everything up a bit more, but the guys grinded tonight and I'm proud of the guys for finding a way to win."

Information Hodge Podge: The win was the first of Filzen's head coaching career...The 90 points scored are the fifth-most in a season-opening game in program history...The record is 108 which the Chargers scored to open the 2002-03 season in a 108-90 win over Johnson Bible...The Chargers defeated the Blue Jays, 70-58 last season in Lancaster...Lancaster Bible is now 2-5 all-time against Elizabethtown.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible will take part in the TownePlace Suites Tip-Off Tournament at Messiah this weekend and will take on the host Falcons on Friday night at 8 p.m. The other game of the tournament will feature Franklin & Marshall and New Jersey City. The winners of Friday night's games will meet at 3 p.m. on Saturday, while the other two teams will play at 1 p.m. on Saturday.