SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University men's basketball team erased a 14-point Lancaster Bible lead in the second half, but the comeback fell short as the Sea Gulls dropped a close 67-65 decision to the Chargers on Saturday.

BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Salisbury fell behind early on a 10-2 Lancaster Bible run right out of the gates. Salisbury chipped away at the lead and cut it to 16-15 on a 13-6 run capped off by a Jordan Oates putback at the 8:09 mark.
• Lancaster Bible extended its first-half lead to as much as 14 points near the halftime break when Salisbury got cold from the field. LBC went up on a Grant Sareyka three followed by a pair of free throws by Tyler Hilton to take a 32-18 lead with just over a minute left in the first half.
• Determined to get the LBC lead back to single digits, Salisbury used LBC's foul trouble to get to the line in the final minute of the first half. Free throws by Gary Briddell and Brandon Craig followed by a Johnny Fierstein lay-in right before the buzzer trimmed the LBC lead to 32-23 at the half.
• Salisbury clawed it's way back in the game in the early goings of the second half. Salisbury opened the half on a 7-2 run to cut the Lancaster Bible lead to 34-30. But. LBC answered with back-to-back threes by Jordan Shewbridge to push the lead back to 10.
• Another Salisbury run trimmed the LBC lead back down to a score, 42-40, with 12:31 left in regulation when Paul Garcia's three bookended a 10-2 SU run.
• The Sea Gulls took their first lead of the game on back-to-back threes by Craig and Cameron Heard gave the maroon and gold the 48-45 lead with 9:36 on the second-half clock.
• LBC tied the game up at 48 with just over eight minutes left in regulation before a five-point possession on a three-pointer by Jasiah Perry then a loose ball foul by Lancaster Bible on the shot allowed Heard to drain a pair of free throws to push the SU lead up to 53-48.
• Lancaster Bible regained the 62-59 lead with five minutes to go in the game when the Chargers got out on a 14-5 run before the final media timeout at the 3:16 mark.
• Once again, Salisbury cut the lead down in the late stages of the game. With a three-point LBC lead with just over a minute left, a pair of Briddell free throws cut the LBC lead to 64-63. A Hilton layup put LBC back up by three, 66-63 with 17 seconds left.
• Briddell got sent to the line with just over four seconds left in the game. After knocking down both free throws to trim the lead back to one, SU sent Hilton to the line. Hilton made one of two free throws to give Salisbury the final possession.
• Salisbury got the long ball through the Lancaster Bible defense but Seth Beers forced a Briddell turnover to end the game.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Salisbury struggled from the field in the first half. Salisbury shot 24.1 percent (7-29) and did not make a three-point attempt (0-12) in the first half. SU made the necessary adjustments after the break to shoot 50 percent (14-28) from the floor, including 5-of-9 from three.
• Johnny Fierstein paced the Salisbury offense with 13 points. He added three rebounds and three assists.
• Cameron Heard netted a season-high 10 points off the bench on 3-of-5 shooting.
• Gary Briddell ended the day with 10 points. He was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.
• Jasiah Perry and Jordan Oates both controlled the glass for SU with seven rebounds apiece. Perry chipped in with nine points while Oates tallied seven,
• Brandon Craig and Paul Garcia also registered seven points. Craig pulled down six boards and denied a pair of Charger shots.

LANCASTER BIBLE GAME NOTES

• Jordan Shawbridge led all scorers with 27 points, including 22 second-half points.
• Tyler Hilton (18), Grant Sareyka (11) and Andrew Zentner (10) each reached double figures for the Chargers. Zentner recorded a double-double with a game-best 12 rebounds.
• LBC held the 43-35 rebounding edge over SU.

UP NEXT

• Salisbury concludes its countable games of the 2021 season with a 4-3 overall record.
• Salisbury will wrap up the 2021 season with an exhibition contest with Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference rival, CNU, on Wednesday, Feb. 17.
• The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.