Grace Men Complete Season Sweep Of St. Francis
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
With another blue-collar effort Saturday afternoon at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, the Lancers held off a late rally by the 11th-ranked St. Francis Cougars en route to a 76-73 win.
Once 0-5 in the Crossroads League, Grace has won eight of its last nine games, including a season-sweep of the nationally-ranked Cougars.
“The guys stepped up,” said Grace College head coach Jim Kessler, who has now guided the Lancers to 695 wins in his 37-year career. “This was a great team effort. St. Francis is a good team. They've got a lot of pieces. Our guys stepped up and played our game.”
With the win, Grace is now 16-9 overall and 8-6 in league play, while St. Francis fell to 9-5 and 17-9.
Ninth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan leads the Crossroads League at 11-3, followed by No. 17 Bethel (10-4), No. 14 Huntington (10-4), No. 24 Marian (9-4), St. Francis (9-5), Grace (8-6), Spring Arbor (5-9), Taylor (4-10), Mt. Vernon Nazarene (2-12) and Goshen (1-12).
Included in the Lancers' recent string of victories are a pair of upset wins over St. Francis as well as upsets of Marian and Huntington.
“We're doing what we have to do to win,” said Kessler. “We're a blue-collar team.”
En route to Saturday's win, Grace got strong play from its duo of senior post players.
All-American Greg Miller scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Jared Treadway finished with 12 points and 11 boards.
“Greg is man mountain down low,” said Kessler. “Jared gives you everything he has. He's been injured. He didn't even dress much last year. He just continues to show up and give you all he's got.”
Sophomore point guard Logan Irwin finished with 13 points and five assists, while sophomore Brandon Vanderhegghen and junior Niko Read chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
“We had really good balance,” said Kessler. “We had 10 second-chance points and got 16 points off our bench. That was big.”
The Lancers led 38-30 at halfime and held a double-digit lead the majority of the second half.
The Cougars trailed 70-58 in the final two minutes of the game. Refusing to give up, St. Francis cut Grace's lead to one possession on three occassions down the stretch.
The Lancers, however, had an answer each time.
“St. Francis wasn't going to give up,” said Kessler. “They're a good team. We were able to close it out, that was good to see.”
Senior Scott Kohne led St. Francis with 16 points, while junior Josh Hogan added 15 points and sophomore Jordan Hahn and junior Austin Fox contributed 13 points each.
Fox led the Cougars in rebounds with 11.
St. Francis hosts Spring Arbor Tuesday at 7 p.m, while Grace travels to Indianapolis Tuesday to face Marian.
GRACE COLLEGE 76, ST. FRANCIS 73
SF 30 43 – 73
GC 38 38 – 76
St. Francis – Scott Kohne 6-13 4-5 16, Austin Fox 4-13 5-8 13, Kegan Comer 3-8 0-0 7, Jordan Hahn 4-5 2-2 13, Josh Hogan 6-14 2-4 15, Chris Lemon 1-1 1-2 3, Kyle Sovine 2-4 2-2 6, Gary Brogan 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer Comer 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 16-23 73.
Grace – Greg Miller 6-10 9-11 21, Jared Treadway 3-5 6-8 12, Logan Irwin 3-8 6-11 13, Niko Read 3-7 1-2 10, Caleb Featherston 2-3 0-0 4, Drew Perrin 1-1 1-2 3, Brandon Vanderhegghen 4-6 0-0 11, Eric Miller 0-4 0-0 0, Kyle Fillman 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 23-47 23-24 76.
Three-pointers – St. Francis 5 (Hahn 3, K. Comer, Hogan), Grace 7 (Read 3, Vanderhegghen 3, Irwin); Rebounds – St. Francis 27 (Fox 10), Grace 34 (Miller 11, Treadway 11); Turnovers – St. Francis 6, Grace 13; Fouls – St. Francis 24, Grace 21; Fouled out – none; Records: St. Francis 17-9 (9-5 CL), Grace 16-9 (8-6 CL)[[In-content Ad]]
With another blue-collar effort Saturday afternoon at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, the Lancers held off a late rally by the 11th-ranked St. Francis Cougars en route to a 76-73 win.
Once 0-5 in the Crossroads League, Grace has won eight of its last nine games, including a season-sweep of the nationally-ranked Cougars.
“The guys stepped up,” said Grace College head coach Jim Kessler, who has now guided the Lancers to 695 wins in his 37-year career. “This was a great team effort. St. Francis is a good team. They've got a lot of pieces. Our guys stepped up and played our game.”
With the win, Grace is now 16-9 overall and 8-6 in league play, while St. Francis fell to 9-5 and 17-9.
Ninth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan leads the Crossroads League at 11-3, followed by No. 17 Bethel (10-4), No. 14 Huntington (10-4), No. 24 Marian (9-4), St. Francis (9-5), Grace (8-6), Spring Arbor (5-9), Taylor (4-10), Mt. Vernon Nazarene (2-12) and Goshen (1-12).
Included in the Lancers' recent string of victories are a pair of upset wins over St. Francis as well as upsets of Marian and Huntington.
“We're doing what we have to do to win,” said Kessler. “We're a blue-collar team.”
En route to Saturday's win, Grace got strong play from its duo of senior post players.
All-American Greg Miller scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Jared Treadway finished with 12 points and 11 boards.
“Greg is man mountain down low,” said Kessler. “Jared gives you everything he has. He's been injured. He didn't even dress much last year. He just continues to show up and give you all he's got.”
Sophomore point guard Logan Irwin finished with 13 points and five assists, while sophomore Brandon Vanderhegghen and junior Niko Read chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
“We had really good balance,” said Kessler. “We had 10 second-chance points and got 16 points off our bench. That was big.”
The Lancers led 38-30 at halfime and held a double-digit lead the majority of the second half.
The Cougars trailed 70-58 in the final two minutes of the game. Refusing to give up, St. Francis cut Grace's lead to one possession on three occassions down the stretch.
The Lancers, however, had an answer each time.
“St. Francis wasn't going to give up,” said Kessler. “They're a good team. We were able to close it out, that was good to see.”
Senior Scott Kohne led St. Francis with 16 points, while junior Josh Hogan added 15 points and sophomore Jordan Hahn and junior Austin Fox contributed 13 points each.
Fox led the Cougars in rebounds with 11.
St. Francis hosts Spring Arbor Tuesday at 7 p.m, while Grace travels to Indianapolis Tuesday to face Marian.
GRACE COLLEGE 76, ST. FRANCIS 73
SF 30 43 – 73
GC 38 38 – 76
St. Francis – Scott Kohne 6-13 4-5 16, Austin Fox 4-13 5-8 13, Kegan Comer 3-8 0-0 7, Jordan Hahn 4-5 2-2 13, Josh Hogan 6-14 2-4 15, Chris Lemon 1-1 1-2 3, Kyle Sovine 2-4 2-2 6, Gary Brogan 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer Comer 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 16-23 73.
Grace – Greg Miller 6-10 9-11 21, Jared Treadway 3-5 6-8 12, Logan Irwin 3-8 6-11 13, Niko Read 3-7 1-2 10, Caleb Featherston 2-3 0-0 4, Drew Perrin 1-1 1-2 3, Brandon Vanderhegghen 4-6 0-0 11, Eric Miller 0-4 0-0 0, Kyle Fillman 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 23-47 23-24 76.
Three-pointers – St. Francis 5 (Hahn 3, K. Comer, Hogan), Grace 7 (Read 3, Vanderhegghen 3, Irwin); Rebounds – St. Francis 27 (Fox 10), Grace 34 (Miller 11, Treadway 11); Turnovers – St. Francis 6, Grace 13; Fouls – St. Francis 24, Grace 21; Fouled out – none; Records: St. Francis 17-9 (9-5 CL), Grace 16-9 (8-6 CL)[[In-content Ad]]
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