Warriors Fall to Lancaster Bible in Championship Semifinals

The Nelson Warriors' Men's Basketball team saw their chance at back-to-back titles come to a close in the NCCAA Division I National Tournament Semifinals on Thursday, falling 98-91 to the Lancaster Bible Chargers at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, MO. While the season is not quite over yet, they play for 3^rd place on Saturday morning at 10am, the loss concluded the opportunity of adding to a history book season that featured a mid-season turnaround, a six-game winning streak to close the regular season, the SWS West Regional Championship, and a thrilling opening-round upset of #2 Hannibal-LaGrange.

The Warriors trailed for most of the first half but refused to let the deficit balloon. Behind a late 10-2 run over the final four minutes of the period, Nelson clawed their way back to tie the game at 44-44 heading into halftime. But the second half told a different story. While Warriors fans have long come to expect at least one big run from head coach Kole Ebert's explosive offense, on this day it was not meant to be as Lancaster Bible flipped the script, using a decisive 17-6 run to build a 13-point lead with 8:46 remaining, then fought valiantly to hold off every Nelson push from there to advance to the national championship game.

Both teams shot similarly from the field in the first half, Nelson at 48.5% and Lancaster Bible at 47.2%, but the Warriors went cold after the break, connecting on just 36.1% of their shots compared to the Chargers' 50.0% efficiency. The disparity proved too much to overcome in the high-scoring, competitive battle – Lancaster's 98 points is the most the Warriors had allowed since November 19. The Warriors had allowed an average of just 71.4 points per game in the intervening 22 games between then and this afternoon's match.

Jermaine Earnest once again turned in a tale-of-two-halves performance, going scoreless in the first half before exploding for 19 points in 18 second-half minutes (5-of-8 from the field, 7-of-8 from the free-throw line) while adding 8 rebounds. Zoe Holman delivered one of the most complete stat lines of his season, pouring in a team-high 25 points (17 in the second half on 8-of-18 shooting overall and 8-of-12 from the free throw line), along with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks in a valiant effort as he attempted to will his team to the victory. Orlando Gonzales added 17 points (despite an uncharacteristic 0-for from three), going 8-of-12 from the free-throw line while grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing 4 assists.

Camden Hurst led all scorers with 27 points for the Chargers, nearly putting together a triple-double with 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists. Connot Storr recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while three other players recorded double-digit scoring.

Warriors fans have one last chance to watch this season's incarnation when they take on host College of the Ozarks for 3^rd place.

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