Grace Men Upset No. 24 Huntington
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
Trailing the 24th-ranked Huntington University Foresters 74-66 with three minutes remaining in Saturday's Crossroads League clash at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, Grace got eight unanswered points from its 6-foot sophomore point guard.
After an old-fashioned three-point play and a driving layup, an Irwin three-pointer with 1:15 remaining knotted the game at 74-all.
Teammate Greg Miller hit a go-ahead trey with 21 seconds left, giving the Lancers a 77-74 advantage.
When all was said and done, Grace closed the contest on a 15-2 run, upsetting the Foresters 81-76 and sending the Lancers' fans into a frenzied celebration.
“That's how you close a game,” said veteran Grace College coach Jim Kessler. “We've struggled closing games this year, but we got it done today. It started last week at St. Francis. We need to keep it going.”
With the thrilling win, the Lancers improved to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in the Crossroads League.
Huntington fell to 16-4 overall and 6-2 in the league standings.
St. Francis leads the league with a 7-1 record, while Indiana Wesleyan is also 6-2, Marian is 4-3, Bethel and Spring Arbor are 4-4, Taylor is 3-5, Goshen is 1-6 and Mount Vernon Nazarene is 1-7.
Grace, which finished second in the league last season with a 13-5 record, lost its first five Crossroads contests this season.
Since then, however, the Lancers have given then-No. 14 St. Francis its only conference loss, beat then-No. 20 Marian University and upset Huntington.
Grace has won four of its last five meetings with Top 25 opponents.
“I haven’t been on a lot of losing teams,” said Logan Irwin, the former Whitko High School star who is 12th all-time in scoring in Indiana. “This team has a lot of confidence. Even when we were 0-5, we were still confident. We still thought we were going to win.”
That confidence has certainly been there lately, as evidenced by the Lancers’ three-game win streak against ranked opponents.
Finishing the game 8 of 12 from the field, Irwin led the Lancers with a game-high 23 points Saturday.
Miller added 20 points, while Niko Read and Brandon Vanderhegghen chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively, and Caleb Featherston scored nine points.
Miller led the team in rebounds with eight.
“Logan really stepped up,” Kessler said of his point guard, who was 6 of 8 from the field for 16 points in the second half. “He made some big shots. He also made some defensive plays.
“Greg Miller made some big shots, that three-pointer that put us up was huge,” added Kessler.
The trey by Miller, which gave Grace the lead for good at 77-74, was the Lancers’ first lead since it was 38-37 late in the first half.
“We played a little nasty in the second half,” said Kessler. “That’s who we are. We can’t play pretty. We have to have a nasty about us.”
Derek Hinen led Huntington with 18 points, while Shane Merryman added 15 points and nine rebounds, T.J. Short and Tyler Ault chipped in with 11 points each and Alec Peterson and Ryan Boester finished with 10 points each.
The Lancers will try to extend their win streak to four games Tuesday when they travel to Mount Vernon.
Grace then hosts Taylor Saturday at the MOCC at 3 p.m.
GRACE 81, HUNTINGTON 76
Hunt 41 35 – 76
Grace 39 42 – 81
Huntington – T.J. Short 4-9 2-3 11, Shane Merryman 4-10 6-6 15, Alec Peterson 4-6 2-3 10, Derek Hinen 5-13 7-7 18, Tyler Ault 4-6 0-0 11, Drew Benedict 0-2 0-0 0, Ryan Boester 4-7 0-0 10, Kyle Pippenger 0-1 0-0 0, Daniel Woll 0-0 1-4 1. Totals 25-54 18-23 76.
Grace – Greg Miller 9-14 1-2 20, Jared Treadway 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Irwin 8-12 5-7 23, Niko Read 4-10 2-2 11, Caleb Featherston 3-4 2-4 9, Drew Perrin 2-4 0-0 4, Brandon Vanderhegghen 4-6 0-0 10, Eric Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Fillman 2-6 0-1 4, Adrian Makolli 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-58 10-16 83.
Three-pointers – Huntington 8 (Ault 3, Boester 2, Short, Merryman, Hinen), Grace 7 (Irwin 2, Vanderhegghen 2, Miller, Read, Featherston); Rebounds – Huntington 27 (Merryman 9), Grace 30 (Miller 8); Turnovers – Huntington 10, Grace 8; Fouls – Huntington 19, Grace 22; Fouled out – none; Records: Huntington 16-4 (6-2 CL), Grace 11-8 (3-5 CL)[[In-content Ad]]
Trailing the 24th-ranked Huntington University Foresters 74-66 with three minutes remaining in Saturday's Crossroads League clash at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, Grace got eight unanswered points from its 6-foot sophomore point guard.
After an old-fashioned three-point play and a driving layup, an Irwin three-pointer with 1:15 remaining knotted the game at 74-all.
Teammate Greg Miller hit a go-ahead trey with 21 seconds left, giving the Lancers a 77-74 advantage.
When all was said and done, Grace closed the contest on a 15-2 run, upsetting the Foresters 81-76 and sending the Lancers' fans into a frenzied celebration.
“That's how you close a game,” said veteran Grace College coach Jim Kessler. “We've struggled closing games this year, but we got it done today. It started last week at St. Francis. We need to keep it going.”
With the thrilling win, the Lancers improved to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in the Crossroads League.
Huntington fell to 16-4 overall and 6-2 in the league standings.
St. Francis leads the league with a 7-1 record, while Indiana Wesleyan is also 6-2, Marian is 4-3, Bethel and Spring Arbor are 4-4, Taylor is 3-5, Goshen is 1-6 and Mount Vernon Nazarene is 1-7.
Grace, which finished second in the league last season with a 13-5 record, lost its first five Crossroads contests this season.
Since then, however, the Lancers have given then-No. 14 St. Francis its only conference loss, beat then-No. 20 Marian University and upset Huntington.
Grace has won four of its last five meetings with Top 25 opponents.
“I haven’t been on a lot of losing teams,” said Logan Irwin, the former Whitko High School star who is 12th all-time in scoring in Indiana. “This team has a lot of confidence. Even when we were 0-5, we were still confident. We still thought we were going to win.”
That confidence has certainly been there lately, as evidenced by the Lancers’ three-game win streak against ranked opponents.
Finishing the game 8 of 12 from the field, Irwin led the Lancers with a game-high 23 points Saturday.
Miller added 20 points, while Niko Read and Brandon Vanderhegghen chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively, and Caleb Featherston scored nine points.
Miller led the team in rebounds with eight.
“Logan really stepped up,” Kessler said of his point guard, who was 6 of 8 from the field for 16 points in the second half. “He made some big shots. He also made some defensive plays.
“Greg Miller made some big shots, that three-pointer that put us up was huge,” added Kessler.
The trey by Miller, which gave Grace the lead for good at 77-74, was the Lancers’ first lead since it was 38-37 late in the first half.
“We played a little nasty in the second half,” said Kessler. “That’s who we are. We can’t play pretty. We have to have a nasty about us.”
Derek Hinen led Huntington with 18 points, while Shane Merryman added 15 points and nine rebounds, T.J. Short and Tyler Ault chipped in with 11 points each and Alec Peterson and Ryan Boester finished with 10 points each.
The Lancers will try to extend their win streak to four games Tuesday when they travel to Mount Vernon.
Grace then hosts Taylor Saturday at the MOCC at 3 p.m.
GRACE 81, HUNTINGTON 76
Hunt 41 35 – 76
Grace 39 42 – 81
Huntington – T.J. Short 4-9 2-3 11, Shane Merryman 4-10 6-6 15, Alec Peterson 4-6 2-3 10, Derek Hinen 5-13 7-7 18, Tyler Ault 4-6 0-0 11, Drew Benedict 0-2 0-0 0, Ryan Boester 4-7 0-0 10, Kyle Pippenger 0-1 0-0 0, Daniel Woll 0-0 1-4 1. Totals 25-54 18-23 76.
Grace – Greg Miller 9-14 1-2 20, Jared Treadway 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Irwin 8-12 5-7 23, Niko Read 4-10 2-2 11, Caleb Featherston 3-4 2-4 9, Drew Perrin 2-4 0-0 4, Brandon Vanderhegghen 4-6 0-0 10, Eric Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Fillman 2-6 0-1 4, Adrian Makolli 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-58 10-16 83.
Three-pointers – Huntington 8 (Ault 3, Boester 2, Short, Merryman, Hinen), Grace 7 (Irwin 2, Vanderhegghen 2, Miller, Read, Featherston); Rebounds – Huntington 27 (Merryman 9), Grace 30 (Miller 8); Turnovers – Huntington 10, Grace 8; Fouls – Huntington 19, Grace 22; Fouled out – none; Records: Huntington 16-4 (6-2 CL), Grace 11-8 (3-5 CL)[[In-content Ad]]
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