WINONA LAKE, Ind. - A dominant second-half performance from Ian Scott helped Grace’s men’s basketball team skip by Spring Arbor 90-76 on Saturday.
Scott played a practically perfect second half. The senior poured in 26 points after halftime, shooting 10 of 10 from the floor. He finished the contest with 29 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocked shots.
The No. 12 Lancers (18-4, 10-2 Crossroads League) won their fifth straight game. They moved into a tie for first place (with Bethel) in the league standings with six games remaining.
The two teams played evenly through the midway mark of the first half. Brett Sickafoose helped Grace with two early 3-pointers.
With the score even at 16-16, Grace began to pull away. Justin DeGraaf was a key catalyst, drilling a trio of 3-pointers, and Hunter Walston scored four. DeGraaf’s third triple put the Lancers ahead 36-26 with five minutes left in the half.
Grace rode that momentum and claimed a 44-34 lead at halftime.
Both teams shot at least 50 percent from the floor. Grace had an advantage with seven 3s before halftime (at a 50 percent clip) while turning the ball over just three times.
DeGraaf had 11 points before halftime, and Sickafoose added 10.
Scott wasted little time getting to work once the second half began. He scored on Grace’s first two possessions and soon added two free throws.
Brycen Graber also was active in the early minutes. He converted an and-1 and swished a triple before six minutes had expired, opening up a 62-44 lead.
The Lancers maintained a double-digit cushion for the rest of the way, and Scott put an exclamation point on the win with a closing dunk.
Scott’s 29 points came on 11 of 13 shooting.
As a team, Grace shot 61 percent overall, including a stunning 67 percent after halftime.
The Lancers also enjoyed 11 more rebounds and had just nine turnovers.
Grace has now had five straight games with 10 or fewer turnovers.
DeGraaf produced 15 points off the bench on 6 of 7 shooting, and Sickafoose finished with 12 points and five rebounds.
Graber tallied 10 points and seven assists, Gage Sefton had 8 points, 6 boards and 2 assists, Ian Raasch notched seven points with four boards, and Stoltzfus collected 5 points, 3 steals, 2 assists and 2 boards.
Saturday’s game had two ceremonies. Pregame, Graber was honored for reaching 500 career assists. At halftime, Grace recognized its longtime athletic office manager Kelly Sharp as she is set to retire at the end of the school year.
The Lancers will play at home again on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. meeting with Taylor.

Slow Start Dooms Grace
WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace College’s women’s basketball team fell to the Spring Arbor Cougars 67-53 on Saturday afternoon.
After a poor first quarter, the Lancers (9-13, 2-10 Crossroads League) played nearly even with the Cougars but were unable to overcome the first frame in which they shot just 18 percent from the field.
Grace would draw first blood in the contest when freshman Becca Gerdt grabbed an offensive rebound and immediately went back up to convert the second chance points.
Gerdt was the Lancer’s lone scorer through the first 7:13 of play as the Cougars (15-7, 8-4 CL) built a 9-5 lead.
Kensie Ryman bit into the four-point deficit with a trifecta coming off of an assist from Maddy Poynter, but Spring Arbor connected on back-to-back three point field goals to carry a 15-8 lead into the quarter break.
Sophia Morrison ended Grace’s offensive woes with a trifecta early in the second quarter but the Cougars answered back with one of their own.
Grace found success from the charity stripe in the second frame going 6-6, but they were unable to match a hot shooting Cougars offense and trailed 28-13 with four minutes left in the half.
Morrison and Ryman each added late scores as the Lancers entered halftime down by 12 points.
The Lancers shot 22 percent from the floor in the first half and 18 percent from range. Meanwhile the Cougars hit at an efficient 47 and 40 percent. Grace committed one less turnover than the Spring Arbor but were outscored 14-4 in the paint.
Grace came out of the intermission with a sense of urgency and exploded on an 8-0 run.
All eight points came courtesy of Peyton Murphy who bookended the run with a pair of trifectas, the second which prompted a quick timeout from the Cougars.
The timeout seemed to settle Spring Arbor momentarily as they rebuilt their advantage to nine points but Grace remained undeterred.
Poynter went coast-to-coast on one score and Murphy completed an acrobatic and-one score on the next possession to cut the lead down 41-37.
Morganne Houk had a late score for the Lancers but the quarter ended on a 6-2 run for Spring Arbor who led 47-39 entering the fourth quarter.
Grace again started the quarter efficiently from the field. Morrison hit a mid range jumper and Ryman connected on another 3-point field goal to cut the lead down to five.
It would be as close as the Lancers would get though, as Spring Arbor pulled away late and put the finishing touches on a 67-53 win.
“This was another tough Crossroads League battle,” commented Grace head coach Dan Davis. “I thought our girls really battled today and did some good things, we just weren’t consistent enough to play winning basketball. This team will continue to fight and we will be ready to go against Taylor on Wednesday.”
Grace finished the game shooting 31 percent from the floor and Spring Arbor finished at 45 percent. The Lancers had just 10 turnovers compared to the Cougars 16, but were outscored 30-16 in the paint and 18-4 on second chance points.
Murphy led Grace with15 points and eight rebounds. She now sits just four points shy of 1,00 career points. Also contributing offensively were Ryman with 13 points and Morrison with 12 points.
The Lancers will be back in action on Wednesday at 5:30 as they host Taylor.

Grace Ends Road Trip At Keiser
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Grace’s baseball team concluded its three-game set against Keiser on Saturday, falling 6-1 in the finale.
Both teams scored all of their runs in the first four innings.
The Seahawks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, scoring four runs in their first at-bat. They tacked on an insurance run in the third.
The next run came from the Lancers in the fourth frame. Carter Stogsdill roped a double to left and scored on Gabriel Maldonado’s single to the left side.
KU plated a run in its half of the fourth to complete the scoring. From there, the bullpens held strong for each team. Each team only allowed four batters to reach base after the fourth inning.
Hunter Schumacher pitched an inning of relief, his first appearance since 2023. Aiden McSherry followed with a scoreless inning. Bryce Berkemeier (0.1) and Cayden Borchers (1.2) finished out the game with Borchers collecting two strikeouts.
Grace’s best chance to manufacture a run was in the ninth inning. After a pair of walks, the Lancers executed a double steal to get runners in scoring position. A hit by pitch loaded the bases, but the two out rally was cut short.
Stogsdill finished 1 for 3 with a walk, stolen base and a run; Maldonado added an RBI and a stolen base.
Next up for the Lancers will be a four-game series in Alabama on Feb. 14-15. Grace will take on Defiance College in a pair of doubleheaders.