Hosting the first two rounds of the NAIA Tournament, the Grace mens’ basketball team wasted no time asserting their dominance on their home floor Friday night, getting out to an early lead and growing it throughout the game to defeat Carolina 121-69.
After giving up the first three points of the game, the Lancers answered quite nicely, going on a 14-2 run after the fact to take control of the game early. Crossroads League Player of the Year Ian Scott was instrumental during this stretch, scoring five early points.Sophomore Ian Raasch was just as good, adding six of his own.
Following the first media timeout, the Lancers continued to dominate, going up by double figures. Both Ians remained the top scoring options for the host school, thanks to some fantastic passing by their teammates to get them open. By the time the next break in the action rolled around, Grace was closing in on a 20-point advantage.
In typical Lancer fashion, the team continued to get everybody involved as the game continued on, subbing out all five starts and letting the second unit have their fun. The scoring slowed down a tad during this stretch, but the defensive intensity never waivered, allowing the hosts to hold onto a large lead.
After the blazing hot start, the scoring continued to get harder and harder for the Lancers as the first half went on. After scoring 31 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, the team was only able to manage six over the next seven. Even still, Carolina was unable to do much of anything on the other end either, keeping the Grace lead near or at 20 points.
With Raasch and Scott back on the floor as the first half winded down, the duo was able to help extend their team’s lead even further, as four straight points for Scott made it a 25-point game. The Lancers put one final exclamation point on a great first half as Marcus Davidson buried a three at the buzzer to make it a 52-28 game.
The game continued to get further and further out of reach early in the second half, as Raasch continued to dominate offensively. At the first media timeout, the Lancers were just a point away from bringing their lead to the 30-point mark.
They’d get it there, and it would hang around that threshold for the next few minutes, effectively putting the game out of reach. The closest the Bruins were able to get during this stretch was within 24, before another burst by the home team brought it right back up to 29.
Grace continued to keep its foot on the gas, driving in the lane constantly and adding onto its lead at the hoop or at the free throw line. With seven minutes left in the game, the lead was now up to 40.
By the five minute mark, the Lancers had already hit 100 points for the game. Everything was going right for the home team, with the starters long out of the game and resting, the reserves were able to pick up some big minutes down the stretch. With the only thing left to determine being final score in margin, the advantage grew to over 50 in the final minutes as the Lancers kept pushing the pace.
Grace will play Saturday night with a trip to the Sweet 16 in Kansas City on the line.