The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team passed its toughest road test of the season on Thursday as the Chargers overcame their second halftime deficit of the season and defeated Gallaudet, 76-64 in Washington, D.C. The win improves the Chargers to 23-0 this season and 16-0 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play. Gallaudet falls to 15-7 overall and 12-4 in conference action. The win clinches the NEAC South Division title for the Chargers and they will host the NEAC Final Four next weekend, Feb. 27-28.

How it Happened: Thursday's game began slowly for both teams as the Chargers held just a 5-4 lead after five minutes of play. A layup from sophomore Herbie Brown and back-to-back free throws from Kurt Keltnergave the Chargers a 9-5 lead with 13:11 left in the opening half, but the Bison responded with four straight points of their own and tied the game at 9-9 with 11:49 left on bucket by Trey Gordon.
Both teams went cold from the field again and CJ Dunston's layup with 7:46 remaining in the first half gave the Chargers just a 17-13 lead. Gallaudet secured the first big scoring run of the game as the Bison scored the game's next seven points and led 20-17 with 6:25 left. Another layup from Dunston evened the score at 21-21 a minute later, but Gallaudet took over for the rest of the half and the Bison used a 15-7 run over the final five minutes to take a 36-28 lead into halftime.

Gallaudet took its biggest lead of the game 17 seconds into the second half as Gordon hit a 3-pointer and gave the Bison a 39-28 advantage. The Chargers answered right back nine seconds later as Bryce Williamsdrained a 3-pointerand began a run for Lancaster Bible in which they scored on three of its first four possessions in the second half.

A layup from Andy Cruz gave Gallaudet a 45-37 lead with 16:29 to play, but it would the team's last bucket for 4:30 as Lancaster Bible went on a 10-0 run and grabbed its first lead of the second half. Senior Jon Birdscored the first five points of the scoring run that was capped by a jumper on a fastbreak by Brown. After Gallaudet tied the game on its next possession, Dunston completed a three-point play on the other end which was followed by a steal and 3-pointer from Keltner that gave Lancaster Bible a 53-47 lead with 11:15 to play.

The Chargers maintained a small lead for the next five minutes and Brown came up big again and hit a 3-pointer with 6:54 remaining that gave Lancaster Bible a 63-55 lead. Gallaudet cut its deficit to four at 68-64 with 2:28 remaining on a jumper from Raymond Nelson, but Williams converted a layup in transition 47 seconds later and Brown hit 3-of-4 free throws after a foul and technical foul to give the Chargers a 73-64 lead with 1:20 to play.

After another foul and technical by Gallaudet, Lancaster Bible again hit 3-of-4 free throw attempts and ran out the clock to earn the 12-point victory.

By the Numbers: Dunston finished with a game-high 24 points and added 12 rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks…Williams had 14 points and four assists, while Brown added 12 points and six boards…The Chargers shot just 25-of-65 (38.5 percent) from the floor, but were 22-of-30 (73.3 percent) from the free throw line…Lancaster Bible forced 20 Gallaudet turnovers and scored 23 points off of those turnovers…Gallaudet held a 49-40 edge in rebounds, including a 17-12 advantage on the offensive glass…Cruz and Gordon each had 16 points for the Bison.

The Coach Says: "This win feels as good as any of them this season," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Zach Filzen said. "The guys wanted this one badly after not playing as well as they would have liked the past couple of seasons. Being down eight at halftime and playing in this hostile environment, it is a nice win for everyone."

On the game…"They trapped us a lot and after we figured a couple of things out in the first half, we were able to execute better in the second half and get the ball out of the trap and get some good shots," Filzen said.

On the team's defensive play…"I thought we had great defensive intensity the entire game," Filzen said. "A lot of our offense came from good defensive stops and pressuring the ball on that end of the floor. Guys like Herbie, Jordan and Dre gave us good energy on the defensive end which led to easy baskets."

On winning a lower-scoring game…"A game like this shows we can win multiple ways," Filzen said. "We are learning to play and win different ways and while I don't mind winning this type of way, I would like to see us get into our offensive pace a bit more often as well. We were able to do that in the second half tonight and it paid off for us."

Extra! Extra!: Lancaster Bible is now 6-6 all-time against Gallaudet and has won the last three meetings…The Chargers outscored the Bison, 48-28 in the second half…Thursday marked the 10^th time this season Dunston has had double-digit rebounds and he has 30 over the past two games…Lancaster Bible also trailed at halftime against Messiah in the team's second game of the season...The 76 points scored by Lancaster Bible are tied for the fewest in a game all season…Lancaster Bible defeated Gallaudet, 91-73 on Jan. 30…The 64 points scored are the lowest for Gallaudet since a 63-61 loss to Penn St. Abington on Jan. 5.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible plays its final regular season road game on Saturday as the Chargers visit Wilson in Chambersburg, Pa…Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.