Lancers Fall To No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan
November 23, 2016 at 8:43 a.m.
Lancers Fall To No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan
By Dale [email protected]
That scenario is exactly what played out Tuesday night, as the Lancers fell 112-91 in the Crossroads League opener at No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan, the defending NAIA Div. II national champion.
More times than not, the Lancers are going to win when they score 90-plus points.
Against the high-powered Wildcats they fell behind 20-5 early and struggled to stay in front of Indiana Wesleyan’s shooters.
The Wildcats, now 7-1 on the season, finished the game 41 of 72 (57 percent) from the field overall, and did the majority of their damage with a 15-of-23 effort from three-point range.
Indiana Wesleyan was 7 of 12 from the arc in the first half, taking a 59-48 lead into the intermission, and then came back out to shoot 8 of 11 from three-point range over the final 20 minutes.
“I’m embarrassed by our defensive effort,” said Kessler, whose team fell to 8-2. “That’s just embarrassing. Nobody shoots that well with somebody guarding you, I don’t care if you’re an NBA player. I’m embarrassed for the players. They’re embarrassed. We’ve got to have a better defensive effort than that.”
The Lancers, who were 29 of 59 (49 percent) from the field overall, 6 of 15 from the arc, and 27 of 32 at the charity stripe, cut the deficit to five, 61-56, with a bucket by junior Erik Bowen with 16:31 remaining in the game.
Indiana Wesleyan, however, responded with another big offensive run and cruised to the 21-point win.
“We didn’t seem like ourselves early on, and then we were scrambling the rest of the game,” said Kessler. “We scored 91 points and got beat by 20? What’s that about? Come on now ... that’s about not really caring much about how you defend.
“I’ve said this all along, until we determine we’re going to defend and just get gnarly and get after it, what happened tonight can happen. Our guys play like they just want to get the ball back so we can score. Well, that’s not going to work against the good teams. That doesn’t beat nationally ranked teams. You’ve got to play on both ends of the floor, and you’ve got to do it with passion. We didn’t play with passion. I’m serious, you can’t give unguarded threes over and over and over again.”
Six players for the Wildcats scored in double figures, including all five starters.
Bob Peters led Indiana Wesleyan with 18 points, while Lane Mahurin, Jacob Johnson and Canaan Coffey scored 15 points each. Grant Evans and Grant Zawadzki finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
For the Lancers, Jaret Sons and Bowen scored 18 points each, while Logan Godfrey chipped in with 15 points. Charlie Warner, Chad Hoffer and Braxton Linville all scored eight points in the loss.
“We have to learn from this and move forward,” said Kessler. “I’m embarrassed, but I’m not discouraged ... if that makes any sense. At this point, it’s up to them if they want to become defenders. That’s just something you have to want to do. You have to defend with passion, and if you don’t this is what happens against good teams.”
After one game in Crossroads League action, No. 1 St. Francis, No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan, Taylor, Mount Vernon Nazarene and Goshen are all 1-0.
The Lancers will be in action again Nov. 30 when they host league foe Mount Vernon.
INDIANA WESLEYAN 112, GRACE COLLEGE 91
GC 48 43 – 91
IWU 59 53 – 112
Grace – Logan Godfrey 6-11 3-4 15, Erik Bowen 5-10 8-10 18, Braxton Linville 3-7 1-2 8, Stephen Halstead 3-5 0-0 6, Chad Hoffer 3-7 2-2 8, John Swanson 0-0 0-0 0, Tre Olive 1-4 3-4 5, David Holden 1-2 0-0 2, Tim Swanson 1-1 0-0 3, Charlie Warner 2-3 4-4 8, Jaret Sons 4-9 6-6 18. Totals 29-59 27-32 91.
IWU – Lane Mahurin 5-11 3-4 15, Jacob Johnson 5-9 4-6 15, Grant Evans 5-9 0-0 13, Bob Peters 6-14 5-5 18, Grant Zawadzki 4-4 0-1 11, Kar Reng 0-0 0-0 0, Micah Davis 2-3 0-0 6, Trevor Waite 0-0 0-0 0, Joel Okafor 2-4 0-0 4, Aaron Murray 2-2 0-0 4, Nate Bubash 1-2 0-0 2, Saikou Jallow 2-6 3-5 7, Canaan Coffey 6-7 0-0 15, Ben Carlson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 41-72 15-21 112.
Three-pointers – Grace 6 (Sons 4, Linville, T. Swanson), IWU 15 (Zawadzki 3, Evans 3, Coffey 3, Mahurin 2, Davis, Johnson, Peters); Rebounds – Grace 30 (Bowen 9), IWU 39 (Mahurin 7); Turnovers – Grace 16, IWU 12; Fouls – Grace 17, IWU 25; Fouled out – none; Records: Grace 8-2 (0-1 CL), IWU 7-1 (1-0 CL)
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That scenario is exactly what played out Tuesday night, as the Lancers fell 112-91 in the Crossroads League opener at No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan, the defending NAIA Div. II national champion.
More times than not, the Lancers are going to win when they score 90-plus points.
Against the high-powered Wildcats they fell behind 20-5 early and struggled to stay in front of Indiana Wesleyan’s shooters.
The Wildcats, now 7-1 on the season, finished the game 41 of 72 (57 percent) from the field overall, and did the majority of their damage with a 15-of-23 effort from three-point range.
Indiana Wesleyan was 7 of 12 from the arc in the first half, taking a 59-48 lead into the intermission, and then came back out to shoot 8 of 11 from three-point range over the final 20 minutes.
“I’m embarrassed by our defensive effort,” said Kessler, whose team fell to 8-2. “That’s just embarrassing. Nobody shoots that well with somebody guarding you, I don’t care if you’re an NBA player. I’m embarrassed for the players. They’re embarrassed. We’ve got to have a better defensive effort than that.”
The Lancers, who were 29 of 59 (49 percent) from the field overall, 6 of 15 from the arc, and 27 of 32 at the charity stripe, cut the deficit to five, 61-56, with a bucket by junior Erik Bowen with 16:31 remaining in the game.
Indiana Wesleyan, however, responded with another big offensive run and cruised to the 21-point win.
“We didn’t seem like ourselves early on, and then we were scrambling the rest of the game,” said Kessler. “We scored 91 points and got beat by 20? What’s that about? Come on now ... that’s about not really caring much about how you defend.
“I’ve said this all along, until we determine we’re going to defend and just get gnarly and get after it, what happened tonight can happen. Our guys play like they just want to get the ball back so we can score. Well, that’s not going to work against the good teams. That doesn’t beat nationally ranked teams. You’ve got to play on both ends of the floor, and you’ve got to do it with passion. We didn’t play with passion. I’m serious, you can’t give unguarded threes over and over and over again.”
Six players for the Wildcats scored in double figures, including all five starters.
Bob Peters led Indiana Wesleyan with 18 points, while Lane Mahurin, Jacob Johnson and Canaan Coffey scored 15 points each. Grant Evans and Grant Zawadzki finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
For the Lancers, Jaret Sons and Bowen scored 18 points each, while Logan Godfrey chipped in with 15 points. Charlie Warner, Chad Hoffer and Braxton Linville all scored eight points in the loss.
“We have to learn from this and move forward,” said Kessler. “I’m embarrassed, but I’m not discouraged ... if that makes any sense. At this point, it’s up to them if they want to become defenders. That’s just something you have to want to do. You have to defend with passion, and if you don’t this is what happens against good teams.”
After one game in Crossroads League action, No. 1 St. Francis, No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan, Taylor, Mount Vernon Nazarene and Goshen are all 1-0.
The Lancers will be in action again Nov. 30 when they host league foe Mount Vernon.
INDIANA WESLEYAN 112, GRACE COLLEGE 91
GC 48 43 – 91
IWU 59 53 – 112
Grace – Logan Godfrey 6-11 3-4 15, Erik Bowen 5-10 8-10 18, Braxton Linville 3-7 1-2 8, Stephen Halstead 3-5 0-0 6, Chad Hoffer 3-7 2-2 8, John Swanson 0-0 0-0 0, Tre Olive 1-4 3-4 5, David Holden 1-2 0-0 2, Tim Swanson 1-1 0-0 3, Charlie Warner 2-3 4-4 8, Jaret Sons 4-9 6-6 18. Totals 29-59 27-32 91.
IWU – Lane Mahurin 5-11 3-4 15, Jacob Johnson 5-9 4-6 15, Grant Evans 5-9 0-0 13, Bob Peters 6-14 5-5 18, Grant Zawadzki 4-4 0-1 11, Kar Reng 0-0 0-0 0, Micah Davis 2-3 0-0 6, Trevor Waite 0-0 0-0 0, Joel Okafor 2-4 0-0 4, Aaron Murray 2-2 0-0 4, Nate Bubash 1-2 0-0 2, Saikou Jallow 2-6 3-5 7, Canaan Coffey 6-7 0-0 15, Ben Carlson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 41-72 15-21 112.
Three-pointers – Grace 6 (Sons 4, Linville, T. Swanson), IWU 15 (Zawadzki 3, Evans 3, Coffey 3, Mahurin 2, Davis, Johnson, Peters); Rebounds – Grace 30 (Bowen 9), IWU 39 (Mahurin 7); Turnovers – Grace 16, IWU 12; Fouls – Grace 17, IWU 25; Fouled out – none; Records: Grace 8-2 (0-1 CL), IWU 7-1 (1-0 CL)
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