Grace Takes Off Vs. Taylor
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
WINONA LAKE - Granted, Grace College caught Taylor University in the midst of the its worse stretch of the season.
That doesn't taint the Lancers' performance Tuesday one bit.
Grace broke away from a tie game with a 17-2 run late in the second half and got a 66-51 decision at the Lancer Gym Tuesday in a big Mid-Central Conference win.
With the 15-point win, Grace avenged an earlier 23-point win by Taylor (67-44) this season, making it a 38-point reversal.
Taylor, who was simply dominating opponents early in the conference schedule, dropped its third straight MCC contest. Grace pulled to within one game of Taylor for third place in the MCC with a 6-5 conference record. Taylor is 7-4.
The score was tied at 45 with 7:45 left when the Lancers decided to speed the tempo up a little bit. The result was outscoring the Trojans by 15 points over the next six minutes to gain a 62-47 lead.
"Down there (at Taylor), we were disappointed because we lost composure," Grace coach Jim Kessler said. "This game we intentionally try to pick up the tempo, try to be the aggressor and play to win and not to lose."
Before Grace's run, there had been 15 ties in the game, as well as 11 lead changes. By the pace of the game, it looked like this game would come down to the wire. The Lancers' aggressive defense made sure that wouldn't happen.
"It is probably as aggressive of a second half as I have seen us play," Kessler said. "Some teams play at a different tempo better than others, and maybe we were able to exploit that tonight."
The Lancers utilized a full-court press for the first time this season.
"The press and the trapping that we did probably did more for us than it did to affect them," he said. "It helped us stay the aggressor. There has been stretches this year that we have gotten to that 10 minute mark and stalled out."
Whether it was Taylor's lack of offense of the Grace defense, it is hard to tell, but the Trojans had trouble getting much going all game long. Taylor hit on only 18 of 54 field goals (33.3 percent), including 1 of 17 from the three-point arc. Taylor shot only 37 percent in the first half, and then got worse with 29.6 percent in the second half.
"We stepped up defensively," Kessler said. "That kind of shooting percentage (33.3) tells the story. It speaks of our defensive character or their offensive ineptness. That is not a good game for Taylor. They are a better team than that."
Grace did the job on Taylor's big man, if not the whole game, but definitely when it counted most. Taylor's 6-foot-8, 280-pound center Steve Wit burned the Lancers inside with 22 points on 10 of 16 shooting, but Wit's final basket came at the 10:07 mark of the second half.
From that point, a little switch in the defense helped control Wit and in the process, the Taylor offense.
"We tried dropping from the weakside and doubling him because he really is their go-to guy," Kessler said. "And we put (6-8) Darren (Gagnon) on him late. Darren worked hard to front him, and we dropped and doubled on the back side. It is a risk, you leave someone open. They didn't shoot well from the perimeter.
"We executed some adjustments we made as well as we have in a long time," he said. "We haven't always been able to do that. Maybe it shows we are showing some maturity as a team."
The Lancers, themselves, did not exactly light the world on fire with their offense.
Grace came out of the blocks by turning the ball over five times in the first five minutes of the game.
If it wasn't for Bert McLaughlin, the Lancers might have been down by a lot early. The Grace senior scored the Lancers' first 13 points of the game as the game went back and forth. At one point, Grace led 19-14 midway in the first half, but Taylor came right back with six points from Wit and four more from Kerrod Dunn to forge a 28-28 tie at halftime.
Niether team led by more than three until it was 45-45, and the Lancers made their run.
McLaughlin led the Lancers with 25 points, including 14 of 15 from the free throw line. Gagnon got fire late and scored 24. Andy Schmidt added 10 points.
Grace (19-9 overall) can clinch a first-round home game in the MCC tournament in its last three conference games of the season. The Lancers face No. 7 Goshen, No. 8 St. Francis before finishing up with No. 1 Bethel. [[In-content Ad]]
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WINONA LAKE - Granted, Grace College caught Taylor University in the midst of the its worse stretch of the season.
That doesn't taint the Lancers' performance Tuesday one bit.
Grace broke away from a tie game with a 17-2 run late in the second half and got a 66-51 decision at the Lancer Gym Tuesday in a big Mid-Central Conference win.
With the 15-point win, Grace avenged an earlier 23-point win by Taylor (67-44) this season, making it a 38-point reversal.
Taylor, who was simply dominating opponents early in the conference schedule, dropped its third straight MCC contest. Grace pulled to within one game of Taylor for third place in the MCC with a 6-5 conference record. Taylor is 7-4.
The score was tied at 45 with 7:45 left when the Lancers decided to speed the tempo up a little bit. The result was outscoring the Trojans by 15 points over the next six minutes to gain a 62-47 lead.
"Down there (at Taylor), we were disappointed because we lost composure," Grace coach Jim Kessler said. "This game we intentionally try to pick up the tempo, try to be the aggressor and play to win and not to lose."
Before Grace's run, there had been 15 ties in the game, as well as 11 lead changes. By the pace of the game, it looked like this game would come down to the wire. The Lancers' aggressive defense made sure that wouldn't happen.
"It is probably as aggressive of a second half as I have seen us play," Kessler said. "Some teams play at a different tempo better than others, and maybe we were able to exploit that tonight."
The Lancers utilized a full-court press for the first time this season.
"The press and the trapping that we did probably did more for us than it did to affect them," he said. "It helped us stay the aggressor. There has been stretches this year that we have gotten to that 10 minute mark and stalled out."
Whether it was Taylor's lack of offense of the Grace defense, it is hard to tell, but the Trojans had trouble getting much going all game long. Taylor hit on only 18 of 54 field goals (33.3 percent), including 1 of 17 from the three-point arc. Taylor shot only 37 percent in the first half, and then got worse with 29.6 percent in the second half.
"We stepped up defensively," Kessler said. "That kind of shooting percentage (33.3) tells the story. It speaks of our defensive character or their offensive ineptness. That is not a good game for Taylor. They are a better team than that."
Grace did the job on Taylor's big man, if not the whole game, but definitely when it counted most. Taylor's 6-foot-8, 280-pound center Steve Wit burned the Lancers inside with 22 points on 10 of 16 shooting, but Wit's final basket came at the 10:07 mark of the second half.
From that point, a little switch in the defense helped control Wit and in the process, the Taylor offense.
"We tried dropping from the weakside and doubling him because he really is their go-to guy," Kessler said. "And we put (6-8) Darren (Gagnon) on him late. Darren worked hard to front him, and we dropped and doubled on the back side. It is a risk, you leave someone open. They didn't shoot well from the perimeter.
"We executed some adjustments we made as well as we have in a long time," he said. "We haven't always been able to do that. Maybe it shows we are showing some maturity as a team."
The Lancers, themselves, did not exactly light the world on fire with their offense.
Grace came out of the blocks by turning the ball over five times in the first five minutes of the game.
If it wasn't for Bert McLaughlin, the Lancers might have been down by a lot early. The Grace senior scored the Lancers' first 13 points of the game as the game went back and forth. At one point, Grace led 19-14 midway in the first half, but Taylor came right back with six points from Wit and four more from Kerrod Dunn to forge a 28-28 tie at halftime.
Niether team led by more than three until it was 45-45, and the Lancers made their run.
McLaughlin led the Lancers with 25 points, including 14 of 15 from the free throw line. Gagnon got fire late and scored 24. Andy Schmidt added 10 points.
Grace (19-9 overall) can clinch a first-round home game in the MCC tournament in its last three conference games of the season. The Lancers face No. 7 Goshen, No. 8 St. Francis before finishing up with No. 1 Bethel. [[In-content Ad]]