Grace Continues Winning Ways
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
The veteran Grace College men's basketball coach has a standout floor general, and that was evident again Tuesday night as Grimm scored a game-high 21 points, including the game-winning basket in the final seconds of the Lancers' 57-56 win over defending national champion St. Francis.[[In-content Ad]]"Every team has someone who drives the bus," said Kessler, whose team improved to 21-8 overall and 11-4 in the MCC standings. "Bruce drives the bus for us. He's a big part of what we do."
After flirting with a triple-double in Saturday's win over MCC foe Spring Arbor, tallying 29 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Grimm added six rebounds, three assists and three steals to his stat line Tuesday.
In Grace's last six games, Grimm has scored 21 or more points four times.
The 6-foot-1 sophomore and former Rochester High School star who transferred to Grace from NCAA Division I East Tennessee State is a big part of why the Lancers are ranked 16th in the latest NAIA Division II polls and have won 11 of their last 13 games.
None of those wins were been bigger than Tuesday's one-point victory over the 14th-ranked Cougars.
Not only did Grace complete the season sweep of St. Francis (21-8, 10-5 MCC), but the Lancers took sole possession of second place in the conference standings and probably punched their ticket to the NAIA D-II National Tournament.
"This is a huge win for us," said Kessler. "That win probably got us a shot at the National Tournament."
Grace has one regular season game remaining, a 3 p.m. showdown Saturday at No. 9 Indiana Wesleyan.
The winner of that game will get the No. 1 seed for next week's MCC Tournament.
Indiana Weslyan, which fell 89-78 at Marian University Tuesday, leads the MCC with a 12-3 record, followed by Grace (11-4) and St. Francis (10-5).
Spring Arbor sits fourth in the MCC with a 9-7 record, followed by Huntington (8-7), Marian (6-9), Taylor (4-11), Bethel (4-11) and Goshen (4-11).
"It wasn't pretty, but we battled," said Kessler. "We played really hard, and we put ourselves in position to make a play."
With Grace trailing 56-55, Grimm rebounded a St. Francis miss and went coast-to-coast to score the winning basket with just under 13 seconds remaining in the game.
The Lancers had led by as many as nine points, 51-42, when freshman Dennis Williams threw down a thunderous dunk with with 6:27 to play.
The Cougars, however, didn't fold, and quickly cut the lead to three with back-to-back three-pointers.
The teams traded buckets, and St. Francis eventually took one-point leads of 54-53 and 56-55 before Grimm's shot sent a large crowd of fans at the Orthopaedic Capital Center into a celebration.
"They're a good team, and they were looking for a way to win," Kessler said of St. Francis. "They won the national championship last year, they know what it takes to win. I'm proud of the guys for battling. It wasn't a pretty game, it was your typical knock-down, drag-out fight in the MCC."
Grace finished the game 24 of 57 (42 percent) from the field overall, 4 of 15 from three-point range, and 5 of 10 from the free throw line.
St. Francis was 25 of 60 (42 percent) from the field, 2 of 13 from the arc, and converted just 4 of 9 charity tosses.
The Cougars led 26-24 at halftime and were outscored 33-30 by Grace in the second half.
To go with Grimm's 21 points, the Lancers got nine points each from Duke Johnson and Greg Miller and eight points from Williams.
Johnson led the Lancers with a game-high eight rebounds, while Miller pulled down seven boards.
Qadr Owens led the Cougars with 15 points, while DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis added 13 points and Ethan Hussey chipped in with 12 points.
Sawyer-Davis, who entered the game eighth in NAIA D-II in total scoring this season with 567 points, was just 6 of 15 from the field overall and 0 of 4 from the arc.
"To hold Sawyer-Davis to 13 points is tremendous defense," said Kessler. "We were in a battle tonight, and the guys stepped up."
GRACE 57, ST. FRANCIS 56
SF 26 30 - 56
G 24 33 - 57
SF - Ferdinand Morales-Soto 2-7 2-3 6, DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis 6-15 1-2 13, Matt Edmonds 3-3 0-0 6, Qadr Owens 7-14 1-4 15, Ethan Hussey 5-6 0-0 12, Joey Kosiarek 1-6 0-0 2, LaRon Bryan 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin Bloom 0-2 0-0 0, Kevin Dawson 1-7 0-0 2, Brad Sneary 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 4-9 56.
Grace - Greg Miller 4-8 0-0 9, Duke Johnson 4-9 1-3 9, David Henry 0-3 0-1 0, Elliot Smith 2-6 0-0 5, Bruce Grimm Jr. 9-17 2-4 21, Jacob Peattie 1-2 0-0 3, Dayton Merrell 1-6 0-0 2, Tannan Peters 0-1 0-0 0, Dennis Williams 3-5 2-2 8. Totals 24-57 5-10 57.
Three-pointers - St. Francis 2 (Hussey 2), Grace 4 (Miller, Smith, Grimm, Peattie); Rebounds - St. Francis 36 (Sawyer-Davis 8), Grace 35 (Johnson 8, Miller 7); Turnovers - St. Francis 9, Grace 12; Fouls - St. Francis 13, Grace 15; Fouled out - none; Records: St. Francis 21-8, 10-5 MCC, Grace 21-8, 11-4 MCC
The veteran Grace College men's basketball coach has a standout floor general, and that was evident again Tuesday night as Grimm scored a game-high 21 points, including the game-winning basket in the final seconds of the Lancers' 57-56 win over defending national champion St. Francis.[[In-content Ad]]"Every team has someone who drives the bus," said Kessler, whose team improved to 21-8 overall and 11-4 in the MCC standings. "Bruce drives the bus for us. He's a big part of what we do."
After flirting with a triple-double in Saturday's win over MCC foe Spring Arbor, tallying 29 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Grimm added six rebounds, three assists and three steals to his stat line Tuesday.
In Grace's last six games, Grimm has scored 21 or more points four times.
The 6-foot-1 sophomore and former Rochester High School star who transferred to Grace from NCAA Division I East Tennessee State is a big part of why the Lancers are ranked 16th in the latest NAIA Division II polls and have won 11 of their last 13 games.
None of those wins were been bigger than Tuesday's one-point victory over the 14th-ranked Cougars.
Not only did Grace complete the season sweep of St. Francis (21-8, 10-5 MCC), but the Lancers took sole possession of second place in the conference standings and probably punched their ticket to the NAIA D-II National Tournament.
"This is a huge win for us," said Kessler. "That win probably got us a shot at the National Tournament."
Grace has one regular season game remaining, a 3 p.m. showdown Saturday at No. 9 Indiana Wesleyan.
The winner of that game will get the No. 1 seed for next week's MCC Tournament.
Indiana Weslyan, which fell 89-78 at Marian University Tuesday, leads the MCC with a 12-3 record, followed by Grace (11-4) and St. Francis (10-5).
Spring Arbor sits fourth in the MCC with a 9-7 record, followed by Huntington (8-7), Marian (6-9), Taylor (4-11), Bethel (4-11) and Goshen (4-11).
"It wasn't pretty, but we battled," said Kessler. "We played really hard, and we put ourselves in position to make a play."
With Grace trailing 56-55, Grimm rebounded a St. Francis miss and went coast-to-coast to score the winning basket with just under 13 seconds remaining in the game.
The Lancers had led by as many as nine points, 51-42, when freshman Dennis Williams threw down a thunderous dunk with with 6:27 to play.
The Cougars, however, didn't fold, and quickly cut the lead to three with back-to-back three-pointers.
The teams traded buckets, and St. Francis eventually took one-point leads of 54-53 and 56-55 before Grimm's shot sent a large crowd of fans at the Orthopaedic Capital Center into a celebration.
"They're a good team, and they were looking for a way to win," Kessler said of St. Francis. "They won the national championship last year, they know what it takes to win. I'm proud of the guys for battling. It wasn't a pretty game, it was your typical knock-down, drag-out fight in the MCC."
Grace finished the game 24 of 57 (42 percent) from the field overall, 4 of 15 from three-point range, and 5 of 10 from the free throw line.
St. Francis was 25 of 60 (42 percent) from the field, 2 of 13 from the arc, and converted just 4 of 9 charity tosses.
The Cougars led 26-24 at halftime and were outscored 33-30 by Grace in the second half.
To go with Grimm's 21 points, the Lancers got nine points each from Duke Johnson and Greg Miller and eight points from Williams.
Johnson led the Lancers with a game-high eight rebounds, while Miller pulled down seven boards.
Qadr Owens led the Cougars with 15 points, while DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis added 13 points and Ethan Hussey chipped in with 12 points.
Sawyer-Davis, who entered the game eighth in NAIA D-II in total scoring this season with 567 points, was just 6 of 15 from the field overall and 0 of 4 from the arc.
"To hold Sawyer-Davis to 13 points is tremendous defense," said Kessler. "We were in a battle tonight, and the guys stepped up."
GRACE 57, ST. FRANCIS 56
SF 26 30 - 56
G 24 33 - 57
SF - Ferdinand Morales-Soto 2-7 2-3 6, DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis 6-15 1-2 13, Matt Edmonds 3-3 0-0 6, Qadr Owens 7-14 1-4 15, Ethan Hussey 5-6 0-0 12, Joey Kosiarek 1-6 0-0 2, LaRon Bryan 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin Bloom 0-2 0-0 0, Kevin Dawson 1-7 0-0 2, Brad Sneary 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 4-9 56.
Grace - Greg Miller 4-8 0-0 9, Duke Johnson 4-9 1-3 9, David Henry 0-3 0-1 0, Elliot Smith 2-6 0-0 5, Bruce Grimm Jr. 9-17 2-4 21, Jacob Peattie 1-2 0-0 3, Dayton Merrell 1-6 0-0 2, Tannan Peters 0-1 0-0 0, Dennis Williams 3-5 2-2 8. Totals 24-57 5-10 57.
Three-pointers - St. Francis 2 (Hussey 2), Grace 4 (Miller, Smith, Grimm, Peattie); Rebounds - St. Francis 36 (Sawyer-Davis 8), Grace 35 (Johnson 8, Miller 7); Turnovers - St. Francis 9, Grace 12; Fouls - St. Francis 13, Grace 15; Fouled out - none; Records: St. Francis 21-8, 10-5 MCC, Grace 21-8, 11-4 MCC
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