Playing in front of a hostile Cairn crowd, Lancaster Bible passed its toughest test of the season on Friday night as the Chargers held off the Highlanders, 97-93 in Langhorne, Pa. The victory improves the Chargers to 7-0 this season, while Cairn drops to 5-4. 

How it Happened: For the fourth straight game, Lancaster Bible scored over 50 points in the first half, but for the first time in those four outings, the opposing team matched the feat as the Chargers led the Highlanders, 62-52 at the break. Junior Bryce Williams knocked down one of his four 3-pointers on the night with 14:14 to play in the first to give Lancaster Bible a 21-12 lead, but Cairn stayed right with the Chargers and a Jason Kuntzelman 3-pointer with 10:03 remaining cut the Highlanders' deficit to one at 32-31. 

Lancaster Bible quickly responded with a 15-2 run that senior CJ Dunston put a bow on with a thunderous dunk with 7:29 to play in the opening half. The Chargers eventually led by as many as 16 after a Kurt Keltner 3-pointer made it 56-40, but the Highlanders were able to chip away just before halftime and another Kuntzelman 3-pointer with four seconds to play cut the Chargers' lead to 10 at halftime.

Cairn scored the first five points of the second half to trim its deficit to five at 62-57 and eventually took a 68-67 lead on a 3-pointer from JD Zamroz. It marked the first time Lancaster Bible has trailed in the second half since its second game of the season at Messiah on Nov. 20. The Highlanders would lead by as many as four at 76-72 after Kuntzelman hit yet another 3-pointer. Cairn knocked down six 3-pointers in the second half and Kuntzelman finished the game with 27 points.

The Chargers battled back and eventually took a one-point lead at 85-84 thanks to a Jordan Mellinger 3-pointer with 9:32 remaining. After Cairn retook the lead, senior Dondre Perry converted back-to-back free throws and Mellinger drove into the lane for a bucket to extend the Chargers' advantage to 89-86 with 8:10 to play. 

Perry hit a jumper to make it 93-86 in favor of the Chargers with 6:18 to play before both teams, for the first time all night, went cold from the floor. Though the shooting went cold, the end-to-end action and tension of each possession was felt by both teams and after a Dunston free throw gave Lancaster Bible a 95-90 lead with 1:21 to play, Kuntzelman came down the floor and (surprise) hit his final 3-pointer of the evening to make it a one possession game at 95-93 with 41 seconds remaining.

After working the ball around for most of the shot clock, Williams found Mellinger alone in the corner, but his 3-point attempt went long and bounced towards the other side of the floor into the waiting hands of Dunston who grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 12 seconds remaining. Dunston calmly hit both free throws and iced the game for the Chargers who have now won 15 straight regular season games dating back to last season.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 35-of-76 (46.1 percent) from the field, but were just 11-of-30 in the second half...The Chargers shot 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) from beyond the arc, while the Highlanders knocked down 12-of-25 (48 percent) 3-point attempts...Williams finished with a game-high 28 points and added six rebounds...Dunston had a vintage Dunston game with 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks...Mellinger also had 15 points, while Perry and Herbie Brown chipped in with 14 points each...Keltner added six points, 10 rebounds and six assists...Kuntzelman finished 9-of-14 from the field, including 7-of-10 from beyond the arc.

The Coach Says: "It is good for us to have to grind out a win and win a close game," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "Cairn played well and they have some good young players who shot the ball well."

On the team going forward..."Some things got shown tonight that we need to work on, namely guarding someone," Filzen said. "I thought we played a little too much 1-on-1 basketball when we got in trouble, but that, along with the defense, can be fixed. I'm glad we got the win, we simply have to clean things up and keep getting better."

Extra! Extra!: Lancaster Bible is now 29-59 all-time against Cairn...The Chargers have won their past 10 meetings against the Highlanders dating back to the 2007-08 season...Friday night marked only the second time in the series that both teams were.500 or above entering the game...The only other time came during the 1999-00 season when a 2-1 Lancaster Bible team squared off with a 2-2 Cairn (then Philadelphia Biblical) squad on Nov. 23, 1999...Perry's 14 points give him 933 for his career as he will become the program's 22nd player to reach the 1,000-point mark with 77 more points...Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen received the first technical of his head coaching career 1:31 into the second half...Lancaster Bible's last regular season loss came on Jan. 31, 2015 at Gallaudet.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible will conclude its first semester schedule next Friday when the Chargers host Mount Aloysius at 6 p.m. at Horst Athletic Center.