Grace Playing NAIA National Tournament
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
This year the veteran Grace College basketball coach is at the national tournament with his team.[[In-content Ad]]"We're absolutely thrilled to be here," said Kessler, whose team is 24-9 and in the national tournament field for the first time since 1993. "This is what you shoot for. This is where you want to be."
The 32-team, single elimination tournament gets under way today at College of the Ozarks, located just outside of Branson, Mo.
The 18th-seeded Lancers' first-round game is scheduled for Thursday at 5:45 p.m. against the 14th-seeded Embry-Riddle Eagles, who bring a 27-6 record to the national tournament.
Embry-Riddle, located in Daytona Beach, Fla., is the top-ranked school for aerospace and aeronautical engineering.
On the hardwood Thursday, it'll be the Lancers looking to rocket past their opponent, which has won seven of its last nine games.
Grace enters tournament play having won seven of its last 10 games.
"We're thrilled to be here," Kessler said in a phone conversation Tuesday afternoon after his team's practice. "The atmosphere here is great. We haven't been here since 1993, so it's quite an honor to be here. There's 32 teams here, and everyone here is good."
Grace, which finished second in the Mid-Central Conference tournament, received an at-large bid to the national tournament, as did Embry-Riddle.
The Lancers lost 73-46 to Bethel in the MCC finals, while the Eagles fell 85-72 to Edward Waters in the FSC finals.
"We've got four tapes on them," Kessler said of Embry-Riddle. "We don't know a whole lot about them. In the national tournament, you see a lot of teams you don't know much about, it's like that for every body. A couple things that stick out about them, they've had a lot of success in the tournament and they shoot a lot of three-pointers."
The Eagles won the national championship in 2000, while the Lancers won it all in 1992.
In 33 games this season, Embry-Riddle has attempted 1,990 field goals, 811 of them were three-point attempts.
The Eagles, who have made 288 three-pointers this season, average nearly 25 three-point attempts per game. Grace, which has a number of capable outside shooters, 186 of 523 from three-point range this season.
"They love to shoot the three," said Kessler. "That's something we're going to have to defend."
Embry-Riddle averages 85 points per contest, while its opponents average 70 points per game.
The bulk of the Eagles' scoring comes from four players.
Junior Tyler Debord averages a team-high 17.4 points per game, while junior Rocky Pierre averages 15.2 points per game, sophomore Eric Lorenzi chips in with 15.0 points per game and junior Denver Cobb scores 14.5 points per game.
No other Embry-Riddle player averages more than 5.4 points per game.
"The basically play five or six guys," Kessler said of the Eagles.
Depth may play a huge role for the Lancers, who have eight players that average at least 17 minutes per game.
Senior Marcus Moore leads Grace with 15.8 points per game, while junior Eric Gaff chips in with 13.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, senior Kyle Johnson adds 11 points per contest.
Junior Austin Kaiser, a Wawasee High School product, scores 9.7 points per game for Grace, while classmate Michael Wienhorst, a Warsaw Community High School product, scores 8.0 points per game.
If the Lancers win their game Thursday, they will play Friday at 5:45 p.m. against either Morningside of Iowa (28-3) or Indiana Tech (18-12).
WCHS graduates Shaun Cabrera and Colin Clemens play for Indiana Tech.
The only other team from Indiana in the 32-team field is Bethel College.
The Pilots (27-6) are the No. 9 seed and played Aquinas (24-8) at 10:15 a.m. today.
Wawasee graduate Kory Lantz plays for Bethel, as does NorthWood product Ryne Lightfoot.
Note - sports editor Dale Hubler and chief photographer Gary Nieter will be in Missouri to cover the Grace College Lancers in the NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament.
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This year the veteran Grace College basketball coach is at the national tournament with his team.[[In-content Ad]]"We're absolutely thrilled to be here," said Kessler, whose team is 24-9 and in the national tournament field for the first time since 1993. "This is what you shoot for. This is where you want to be."
The 32-team, single elimination tournament gets under way today at College of the Ozarks, located just outside of Branson, Mo.
The 18th-seeded Lancers' first-round game is scheduled for Thursday at 5:45 p.m. against the 14th-seeded Embry-Riddle Eagles, who bring a 27-6 record to the national tournament.
Embry-Riddle, located in Daytona Beach, Fla., is the top-ranked school for aerospace and aeronautical engineering.
On the hardwood Thursday, it'll be the Lancers looking to rocket past their opponent, which has won seven of its last nine games.
Grace enters tournament play having won seven of its last 10 games.
"We're thrilled to be here," Kessler said in a phone conversation Tuesday afternoon after his team's practice. "The atmosphere here is great. We haven't been here since 1993, so it's quite an honor to be here. There's 32 teams here, and everyone here is good."
Grace, which finished second in the Mid-Central Conference tournament, received an at-large bid to the national tournament, as did Embry-Riddle.
The Lancers lost 73-46 to Bethel in the MCC finals, while the Eagles fell 85-72 to Edward Waters in the FSC finals.
"We've got four tapes on them," Kessler said of Embry-Riddle. "We don't know a whole lot about them. In the national tournament, you see a lot of teams you don't know much about, it's like that for every body. A couple things that stick out about them, they've had a lot of success in the tournament and they shoot a lot of three-pointers."
The Eagles won the national championship in 2000, while the Lancers won it all in 1992.
In 33 games this season, Embry-Riddle has attempted 1,990 field goals, 811 of them were three-point attempts.
The Eagles, who have made 288 three-pointers this season, average nearly 25 three-point attempts per game. Grace, which has a number of capable outside shooters, 186 of 523 from three-point range this season.
"They love to shoot the three," said Kessler. "That's something we're going to have to defend."
Embry-Riddle averages 85 points per contest, while its opponents average 70 points per game.
The bulk of the Eagles' scoring comes from four players.
Junior Tyler Debord averages a team-high 17.4 points per game, while junior Rocky Pierre averages 15.2 points per game, sophomore Eric Lorenzi chips in with 15.0 points per game and junior Denver Cobb scores 14.5 points per game.
No other Embry-Riddle player averages more than 5.4 points per game.
"The basically play five or six guys," Kessler said of the Eagles.
Depth may play a huge role for the Lancers, who have eight players that average at least 17 minutes per game.
Senior Marcus Moore leads Grace with 15.8 points per game, while junior Eric Gaff chips in with 13.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, senior Kyle Johnson adds 11 points per contest.
Junior Austin Kaiser, a Wawasee High School product, scores 9.7 points per game for Grace, while classmate Michael Wienhorst, a Warsaw Community High School product, scores 8.0 points per game.
If the Lancers win their game Thursday, they will play Friday at 5:45 p.m. against either Morningside of Iowa (28-3) or Indiana Tech (18-12).
WCHS graduates Shaun Cabrera and Colin Clemens play for Indiana Tech.
The only other team from Indiana in the 32-team field is Bethel College.
The Pilots (27-6) are the No. 9 seed and played Aquinas (24-8) at 10:15 a.m. today.
Wawasee graduate Kory Lantz plays for Bethel, as does NorthWood product Ryne Lightfoot.
Note - sports editor Dale Hubler and chief photographer Gary Nieter will be in Missouri to cover the Grace College Lancers in the NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament.
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