The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team inched closer to clinching the North Eastern Athletic Conference South Division title on Friday night as the Chargers downed SUNY Polytechnic, 86-64 at Horst Athletic Center. Lancaster Bible needs just one more win to clinch the NEAC South Division title and homecourt advantage throughout the conference playoffs. Friday night's win moves the 15th ranked Chargers to 21-0 overall and 14-0 in NEAC play.

How it Happened: It was a complete role reversal for the Lancaster Bible men's basketball team in the early minutes of Friday's game as SUNY Poly jumped out to a 9-0 lead and eventually a 14-3 advantage 3:59 into the contest. The Chargers, who have used fast starts against almost every team this season, found themselves in an early hole, but didn't panic and over the next seven minutes used a 24-5 run to take a 27-19 lead. Senior CJ Dunston ended the run with a thunderous dunk off an in-bounds pass from Bryce Williams that sent the capacity crowd to its feet.

Peyton Griffiths, who was much of the Wildcats' offense in the first half, hit a 3-pointer to bring the score back to 27-22 in favor of the Chargers, but once again Lancaster Bible used a big scoring run to expand its lead. Lancaster Bible scored 14 of the game's next 16 points and took a 41-27 lead thanks to a jumper from Williams who took a feed from Jordan Mellinger who had started the play with a steal on the defensive end of the floor.

The Chargers eventually built a 49-29 halftime lead and Williams, who scored 10 points in the opening half, caught fire early in the second half as he knocked down two early 3-pointers and gave the Chargers a 55-31 lead just 1:13 into the second half. Lancaster Bible maintained its 20-point lead for much of the half and eventually built a 31-point lead after a jumper from Jon Bird with 4:40 remaining.

By the Numbers: The Chargers shot 31-of-69 (44.9 percent) from the floor, including a 19-of-33 (57.6 percent) mark in the first half...Williams led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting and he also added five assists...Junior Kurt Keltner had 17 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Jordan Mellinger added 12 points...Dondre Perry and Herbie Brown each chipped in with 10 points and senior CJ Dunston had six points, nine rebounds and an assist...Griffiths led the Wildcats with 22 points...SUNY Poly outrebounded Lancaster Bible, 42-35...The Chargers turned the ball over just 13 times and forced 23 SUNY Poly turnovers.

The Coach Says: "I am very pleased with the performance tonight," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "I thought we played together and responded well after a rough start. We were able to collect ourselves during a timeout and then made a good run the rest of the half."

On facing the early deficit..."I think it is good for us to face some adversity," Filzen said. "It hasn't happened in too many games this season and it was good to see us respond well."

On what the win means for the team..."It's a big win for us because it enables us to have a chance to clinch the division and host the NEAC Final Four," Filzen said. "The atmosphere has been amazing at our home games and we are excited to have the chance to play in front of our fans a few more times."

Extra! Extra!: Lancaster Bible is now 4-2 all-time against SUNY Poly...After trailing 14-3 in the first half, Lancaster Bible finished the final 16 minutes on a 46-15 run...Williams needs just 31 points to become the 23rd player in Lancaster Bible men's basketball history to score 1,000 points.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts SUNY Cobleskill on Saturday at 1 p.m...It will be Senior Day as the Chargers will honor their seniors prior to the contest.