The Lancaster Bible men's basketball punched its ticket to the NCAA Division III National Tournament for the first time in school history on Sunday as the Chargers defeated Morrisville State, 97-71 at Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers improve to 27-0 this season and join Benedictine (Ill.) as the first teams since the 2009 St. Thomas squad to enter the NCAA Div. III Tournament undefeated.

How it Happened: Lancaster Bible jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two possessions as a thunderous alley-oop dunk from Dondre Perry opened the game, followed by the first of seven 3-pointers from junior Bryce Williams. Morrisville State answered right back and used buckets on its next three possessions to take a 7-5 lead just 1:55 into the contest. The teams traded baskets for the next two minutes and Williams' second 3-pointer of the day tied the contest at 13-13 with 16:12 to play in the first. 

Lancaster Bible capped its 7-0 run thanks to a layup from Herbie Brown in transition and the Chargers led 17-13 with 15:12 remaining. After the Mustangs cut their deficit to 20-17, Lancaster Bible used another 7-0 run to take a 27-17 advantage with 11:52 left in the first half. Morrisville State stayed in the game and answered back with six straight points and trailed just 27-23 three minutes later. 

The Chargers maintained a single-digit lead for much of the rest of the half until the final 1:52 of the half when they used an 8-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Jordan Mellinger, to take a 52-38 advantage into the halftime break. Lancaster Bible shot 22-of-35 (62.9 percent) from the floor and posted 50+ points in the first half for the second time this season against Morrisville State.

Lancaster Bible continued to build its lead early in the second half and used an 11-0 run over a span of 1:50 to take a 23-point lead at 66-43. After two free throws from Perry on an intentional foul call, the Chargers got the ball back, and off an in-bounds pass, Williams found CJ Dunston under the basket for an alley-oop that sent the home crowd into a frenzy and gave the Chargers a 23-point lead.

Morrisville State senior Ibrahima Toure willed his team to try and come back as he posted 29 points and 17 rebounds in the loss, and his jumper with 7:27 remaining cut the Mustangs' deficit to 78-61, but the Chargers simply had too much firepower down the stretch. A three-point play from Williams with 2:01 remaining gave the Chargers a 95-68 lead and the celebration was on. The clock ticked down to zero and Lancaster Bible finally had its NEAC Men's Basketball Championship.



By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible shot 35-of-64 (54.7 percent) from the floor, including 12-of-29 (41.4 percent) from beyond the arc...Williams finished with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting and his seven 3-pointers tied a season-high...Dunston had 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals and Kurt Keltner added 17 points, six rebounds and five assists...Perry added 14 points, eight assists and four boards and Brown was the fifth player in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds to go with four steals...Morrisville State shot 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) from the floor and just 5-of-20 from 3-point range...Morrisville State entered the NEAC Final Four as the best team in the conference from beyond the arc, shooting at 40.1 percent...In addition to Toure's 29-17 mark, Joe Hulbert added 17 points as he was 9-of-10 from the free throw line...Lancaster Bible forced 16 turnovers, while committing just 10...Lancaster Bible turned those 16 turnovers into 29 points.



The Coach Says: "This a huge day for the program and I'm just so happy for the seniors," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Filzen said. "They have wanted so badly to get over the hump and I just couldn't feel better for them."

On the team's shooting..."I've been telling everyone that I thought we were due for a good shooting night and we got it today," Filzen said. "Bryce, specifically, was due for a game like he had today and he made a lot of great plays."

On Herbie Brown's play..."Herbie has been amazing off of the bench for us," Filzen said. "He has so much energy when he is on the floor and plays so hard. It's exciting watching him mature as a player and envision how bright of a future he has."

On the meaning of this game..."It's obviously great to win the game and great for our seniors, but like we've talked about all season long, this is one step in our journey this season and we have things we can improve on and need to have good practices this week."

On the team's fate in the NCAA Tournament..."I'd love to see us play a neutral site game in the first round, I feel like we have earned that going undefeated," Filzen said. "Where ever we end up playing, I want the guys to prepare well and let's see if we can't make a run."



Extra! Extra!: Williams was named NEAC Tournament MVP as he had 46 points over the two games...Lancaster Bible is now 4-4 all-time against Morrisville State...The Chargers defeated the Mustangs, 97-66 in January in Morrisville, N.Y...Lancaster Bible finishes the season 14-0 at home and the Chargers have won 28 of their past 29 games at Horst Athletic Center...Lancaster Bible is just one win away from tying the program-record for wins in a season that was set by last year's squad (28-3)...Sunday marked the fourth time this season Williams has scored 30 or more points in a game...The men's basketball team becomes the first men's program at Lancaster Bible to advance to the NCAA Div. III National Tournament...The Lancaster Bible women's soccer team advanced to the tournament in 2011 and 2012, while the women's basketball team reached the NCAA Div. III Tournament in 2013...Those three teams all lost in the first round of the tournament...This year's season class finishes its career with a home record of 44-12 at Horst Athletic Center.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible will find out its NCAA Div. III First Round opponent on Monday at 12:30 p.m...The NCAA Div. III Selection Show begins at 12:30 p.m. and can be seen by clicking on the following link:SELECTION SHOW LINK ...Ticket and travel information will be provided following the announcement of Lancaster Bible's opponent.