MARION - Grace’s men’s basketball team passed one of its biggest tests of the season on Wednesday night.
The No. 1 Lancers collected another ranked win, smashing No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan 99-71 on the road in the marquee top-five matchup.
Grace, selected earlier in the day as the NAIA’s top-ranked team, improves to 21-0 on the season. The Lancers also now have a two-game cushion for first place in the Crossroads League (11-0); they hold the tiebreaker after sweeping the regular season against second-place IWU.
Grace’s victory also snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Wildcats (18-3, 9-2). Grace has won three straight games against the Wildcats and three in a row in Marion, Ind.
The Lancers battled their way to their third consecutive win over a team in the NAIA poll (No. 23 Bethel, Marian-receiving votes).
Grace was robust on both sides of the court, shooting 57 percent from the floor and having six players score at least eight points. The Wildcats were muted to 39 percent shooting and were outrebounded by 11.
Elijah Malone (26 points) and Ian Scott (23 points) combined for 49 points; the sharpshooting post players nailed 9 of 14 from beyond the arc between the pair, including a 5-of-6 performance from Scott.
Defensively, Grace immediately asserted itself with three early blocks, including a pair from Malone.
Grace handled the early crowd to grab a 10-5 lead, overcoming a trio of turnovers in the first few minutes.
Malone had two more early blocks, but the Wildcats still managed to even the score at 12s.
The next few minutes were tightly contested; Grace’s bench gave the Lancers a boost from deep with 3-pointers from Carter Stoltzfus and Brett Sickafoose.
Scott then swished back-to-back triples to hand Grace a 26-20 lead.
The Lancers grew careless with the ball, losing the ball on three straight possessions. IWU scored six straight to even the score, but that proved to be the high point of the game for the Wildcats.
Grace unleashed a furious run to end the first half. Cade Gibbs and Brycen Graber ended Grace’s drought with a pair of 3-pointers.
Malone scored five straight points to push Grace’s lead to 11. The Lancers then attacked the rim relentlessly, netting three consecutive layups to cap off a 17-0 run.
IWU scored to stop Grace’s run, but Malone soon countered with a left-handed hook shot and a 3-pointer to hand the Lancers a 28-point lead.
Grace sprinted into halftime with a 50-33 lead, ending the half on a 22-5 run.
In the first half, Grace was dominant offensively (56 percent from the floor) and defensively, holding the Wildcats to 32 percent shooting.
Malone was a wrecking ball with 12 points and seven blocked shots, and Scott scored 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting.
The Wildcats scored more effectively to begin the second half, but they had no answer for Grace’s attack.
An and-1 from Cade Gibbs was followed by a driving layup from Jakob Gibbs as Grace roared ahead 65-45.
The Lancers’ lead hovered around 20 for most of the half, surging to 23 on an emphatic putback dunk from Ian Scott.
Three more layups in the span of a minute gave Grace a commanding 27-point lead (83-56) with 6:32 remaining; IWU called timeout as the home team searched for answers.
Malone’s 3-pointer with three minutes to play lifted Grace to a 95-62 lead, and two free throws from Ian Raasch gave Grace a 34-point lead.
Grace further extends its longest winning streak in team history, also extending Grace’s best start to a season in the process.
Malone finished with 26 points, 7 blocks, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 0 turnovers in 29 minutes; he shot 10 of 14 from the floor and 4 of 8 on 3s.
Scott had 23 points, 6 boards and 2 assists; he was almost perfect with his shooting, making 9 of 10 overall and 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Cade Gibbs muscled his way to 14 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and Jakob Gibbs had 10 points, 6 assists (career high) and 5 boards.
Graber tallied 9 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds, Sickafoose notched eight points and three rebounds, Stoltzfus had 3 points, 3 boards and 3 assists, and Jake Wadding chipped in 2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal.
Grace handed IWU its worst loss since Feb. 5, 2005.
Grace will remain on the road on Saturday, traveling to Spring Arbor for another Crossroads League doubleheader.

Lady Lancers Tripped Up By No. 4 IWU
MARION - Grace College’s women’s basketball team fell to the fourth-rank Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats 86-46 on Wednesday night.
The Lancers (11-10, 6-5 Crossroads League) played tough throughout the matchup, but were undone by a third quarter in which they were outscored 30-6.
Kaylee Patton got on the board with four quick points to give Grace an early lead.
IWU then blitzed ahead 8-4, but Grace responded with a 6-0 run thanks to Maddie Ryman who ended the run with a pair of technical free-throws.
Grace and IWU traded scores across the middle portion of the quarter and after a Morganne Houk jumper the game was tied at 16 apiece.
The Wildcats ended the final 1:44 of the frame on a 7-0 run to carry a 23-16 lead into the quarter beak.
The Grace deficit was increased early in the second quarter to 11 points before a Patton layup sparked a mini run for Grace.
Patton and Houk each added a layup and Kensie Ryman connected on a trifecta to pull the Lancers within four points.
IWU had another strong effort to close out the half though, as they took a 38-27 lead into the intermission.
In the third quarter, Marian proved their reputation as the No. 4 team in the country. The Wildcats outscored the Lancers 30-6.
Grace was held to just three made shots in the quarter and turned the ball over nine times.
Maddie Ryman was the first Lancer to score in the fourth quarter as Grace struggled to contain the Wildcats high octane offensive attack.
Kensie Ryman and Maddie Ryman fueled the Lancers attack over the final 10 minutes, scoring all 13 of Grace’s fourth quarter points.
“I thought we came out ready to play tonight,” said Grace head coach Dan Davis. “Coming into tonight points off of turnovers was a concern and unfortunately we didn’t do a good job of nullifying those tonight. We are going to put this one behind us really fast. Lot of season left and we still control our destiny.”
The Lancers finished the game shooting 35 percent while IWU hit on 45 percent of their shots. The rebound margin was in favor of the Wildcats by two and Grace turned the ball over 26 times compared to IWU’s 10.
Maddie Ryman led all Lancers with 14 points and was followed close behind by Kensie Ryman who ended the contest with 10.
Patton had 12 points and Murphy added 11 rebounds.
The Lancers will return to action on Saturday against #RV Spring Arbor.