The Charger men's basketball team returned to the win column after taking down the visiting Jamestown Jimmies 82-81 inside the Newman Flanagan Center Wednesday evening.
Blake Sindelar dropped a game high 23 points and went 10-for-14 from the field.
"Really proud of the effort our guys played with tonight, unfortunately, we've been on the wrong side of a couple of very similar games, to grind that out and find a way to make a couple huge plays I was really happy with our guys," said Head Coach
Mark Svagera. "I thought our last couple days of preparation was key, I thought our guys practiced really well, happy for our guys to get back on the winning side of things."
The Chargers started the game knocking down two threes from
Quinn Vesey and
Jamison Helmers. The Chargers took a 8-3 lead early after a jumper from Vesey. Briar Cliff took a 21-16 lead with 10:39 to go in the first half following and and-one play by
Matthew Stilwill. On the next possession, Stilwill recorded a steal and threw an outlet pass to
Wil Lugar who took slammed it home to give the Chargers a seven-point lead. After a back-and-forth first half, the Jimmies led 36-35 heading into the break.
Both teams traded baskets early on, until a three from Sindelar gave the Cliff a 56-50 lead with 12:01 left in the game. The Jimmies regained the lead with 7:21 remaining following a three from Silas Bennion. With 1:58 on the game clock, Stillwill recorded a steal and went coast-to-coast to tie the game 76-76. Sindelar the next possession made a tough basket in the paint to give Briar Cliff a two-point lead. A foul on the Chargers allowed the Jimmies to tie the game with 57 seconds left. After a timeout, Silas nailed a three for the Jimmies and the led by one with 25 seconds left.
On the next possession, Sindelar got the ball on a post-up, and scored over the coverage to give the Chargers an 82-81 lead. The Jimmies had one final shot attempt, but Silas three was offline and the Chargers took home the victory.
Stilwill scored 19 points on eight-for-15 shooting and grabbed four steals. Vesey added 15 points and grabbed five boards. Lugar locked down the paint for the Chargers, recording four blocks, all in the first half.
The Chargers improve to 10-7 (4-5 GPAC) on the season. The Chargers will return to action this Saturday, as they travel to Seward, Nebraska to take on the Concordia Bulldogs. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.
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