The Charger men's basketball team beat the Midland Warriors 80-74 inside the Newman Flanagan Center Saturday afternoon. The Chargers shot an efficient 55% from the field and knocked down 12 threes while converting 14-of-19 attempts from the free throw line. Matthew Stilwill had a near double-double with 22 points and nine rebounds while shooting eight-for-12 from the field.

"First I want to give a one last shout out recognition to Erich Erdman and Jay Wolfe on their induction to the Briar Cliff Hall of Fame today, those two were big time parts of our program and incredible leaders and incredible men, really happy they got that recognition today," said Head Coach Mark Svagera. "I thought the first half we started off with a really good urgency and intensity and we maintend it for the first half, unfortunantely we weren't able to continue that into the start of the second half."

Briar Cliff jumped out to a 6-0 lead following back-to-back threes from Jamison Helmers and Blake Sindelar. A three from Stilwill followed by layups from Sindelar and Stilwill extended the lead to 13-3. Briar Cliff headed into halftime leading 39-27. The Chargers shot 60% from the field in the half and were eight-for-16 from three.

BCU came stumbled out of the gates in the second half, with the Chargers first basket coming with 16:36 left in the contest. The Warriors erased the lead during the stretch. With 10:26 left in the game, the Warriors clung to an eight-point lead following a Rece Kissinger basket. A three from Wil Lugar off an assist from Blake Sindelar capped off a 14-6 run as the Chargers tied the game 67-67. A few possessions later Lugar drilled a three to put the Chargers up 73-69 with 2:38 remaining in the contest.

"I was really proud of our guys for going from 17 up to eight down and finding a way to get it done, I thought Blake Sindelar and Wil Lugar were huge for us in the second half offensively, and Jaxson Wingert got a couple massively important rebounds. We came together and found a way to get it done." said Svagera. 

The Chargers converted five of their six free throw attempts to ice the game away. 

Sindelar scored 21 points and shot seven-for-12 and knocked down three triples in the contest. Lugar added 17 points and recorded four blocks while shooting three-for-five from long range and six-for-11 from the field. Helmers added 16 points and knocked down three treys.

The Chargers move to 12-9 (7-6 GPAC) and will travel to Orange City, Iowa to take on the 3rd ranked Northwestern Red Raiders. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.