WINONA LAKE - Although the talent is there, the Grace College men's basketball team is still learning how to become one of the top teams in the NAIA, and that was evident Tuesday night in Lancer Gym against NAIA No. 2 Huntington.

Following a basket by Eric Gaff to put the Lancers ahead 84-80 with 2:17 to play in the contest, Grace went scoreless on its final four possessions and the Foresters pulled out an 85-84 win.

Three of Grace's final four possessions were misses from three-point range, but the Lancers still had an opportunity to win the game. Grace held an 84-82 lead with 30 seconds to play, but Marcus Moore missed a three-point attempt and Huntington's Jared Yoder found an opening in transition for the game winning three-pointer with 19 seconds to go.

Grace still had chances, but Dave Richmond missed a contested shot in the paint with four seconds left and, after Doug Sheckler missed two free-throws, Austin Kaiser missed a running 40-footer as time ran out to give the Foresters the win.

Neither team led by more than seven points the entire game. The biggest lead of the contest came in an early 16-9 Grace advantage.

The Lancers led 44-43 at the half as each team shot lights out. Grace was 59 percent from the field and Huntington was 58 percent, but things changed in the second half.

The Foresters cooled off quite a bit but hung around by getting extra chances on the offensive glass. Four out of Huntington's first six baskets in the second half came after offensive rebounds and the Foresters built a 62-58 lead with 12:15 to play.

Grace answered right back and led by as many as five points at 82-77 with 4:07 to go, but Yoder hit a three-pointer before Gaff's basket put the Lancers ahead 84-80 with 2:17 to play.

Huntington could not find an answer defensively for Gaff. The freshman center finished with a career-high 20 points and added 11 rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Sophomore Marcus Moore finished with a game-high 25 points, which left him one point shy of 1,000 [[In-content Ad]]