WINONA LAKE - An elite defensive performance lifted Grace’s men’s basketball team to a 66-60 victory over Marian on Saturday.
The Lancers, the NAIA’s top-ranked team, are still perfect with a 20-0 record and 10-0 in the Crossroads League.
Marian, who is receiving votes in the NAIA poll, entered today with the NAIA’s most efficient offense. But Grace held the Knights to their lowest point of the season, 24 points under their season average.
Grace has now held back-to-back opponents to their lowest scoring output to date (Bethel, Marian).
Elijah Malone powered Grace to 20 points, 6 boards and 2 blocks, scoring 15 points after halftime.
The Knights (14-6, 4-6 CL) jumped out to a fast start, scoring the first eight points of the contest.
Grace responded with three straight buckets in the paint from Brycen Graber, Malone and Carter Stoltzfus.
Marian continued to shoot the ball well early in the half, scoring on four straight possessions to grab a 17-7 lead.
The Lancers struggled to erase their early deficit, in part due to shooting 1 of 9 on 3-pointers before halftime.
With just under five minutes to go in the half, the Lancers were stuck on 14 points. But Grace’s defense was stout, keeping Marian within range.
Grace finally broke a five-minute scoring drought when Jake Wadding spun his way to a tough bucket in the paint.
The Knights scored four points in the final minute of the half, however, pulling into halftime with a 27-20 lead.
Grace’s offense had eight turnovers in the half while shooting 9 of 26 from the floor (35 percent) and 11 percent from the 3-point line.
To begin the second half, Grace asserted itself in the paint. Wadding scored six early points at the rim, and Malone bullied his way to a score as well.
A 3-pointer from Jakob Gibbs cut Marian’s lead down to 32-29, forcing a timeout.
With 10 minutes to play, Grace went on a 7-0 run; the run was capped off with another score from Wadding to tie the game at 46-46.
With the crowd firmly behind them, the Lancers seemed to grow in confidence. The Knights refused to fade, however, answering with timely scores to prevent Grace from taking the lead.
With four minutes to play, Grace made another push. Malone canned a triple, which was followed by a pull-up jumper from Stoltzfus, tying the game again at 51s.
Marian hit a 3-pointer on its next possession, but Jakob Gibbs answered with a trifecta of his own on the next play.
After Marian scored again to regain the lead, Grace finally seized the lead for good. Wadding swished a 3-pointer at the top of the key, handing Grace its first lead of the game (57-56) with 3:09 to play.
Stoltzfus rattled in a triple on Grace’s next play, pushing the Lancers’ lead to 60-56 to keep the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center crowd in a frenzy.
The Knights made a putback layup with less than a minute remaining, slicing Grace’s lead down to 60-58.
Needing a bucket, Grace turned to its All-American center. Malone beat his defender in the post, scored and was fouled. His 3-point play handed the Lancers a five-point cushion with 36 seconds remaining.
Grace took care of the rest at the free throw line, hitting three foul shots to ice the six-point win.
The win was Grace’s closest final score of the year (six points) and marked Grace’s lowest-scoring game of the season.
Malone’s 20 points came on 7 of 13 shooting, including 2 of 4 from beyond the arc. He made four of his five free throws.
Wadding finished with 15 points and five boards, shooting 7 of 8 from the floor. Malone and Wadding combined to score 26 points after halftime.
Ian Scott notched 13 points with five boards, Jakob Gibbs had 8 points, 2 assists and 2 boards, and Stoltzfus chipped in 8 points, 4 boards and 2 assists.
The Lancers will face a stiff test on Wednesday with a road matchup at No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan. The Wildcats are currently one game behind Grace in the conference standings.
After Saturday’s win, Grace has now locked up four straight 20-win seasons under head coach Scott Moore.

Lady Lancers’ Win Streak Halted Against No. 5 Marian
WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace College's women’s basketball team had a season best six-game win streak come to an end against No. 5 Marian on Saturday afternoon.
The Lancers' (11-9, 6-4 Crossroads League) offense was muted in the contest, shooting just 35 percent from the floor and ultimately falling 70-47.
Grace started the contest strong jumping out to a 4-9 lead thanks to buckets from Bekah Marshall and Maddie Ryman. On the defensive side of the ball the Lancers held Marian (19-1, 10-0 CL) scoreless through the first 4:32 of play.
After the Knights’ finally broke the seal on the basket, they went on a 15-2 run to quickly jump ahead by nine-points. Kate Rulli added a late basket for the Lancers after a nice feed from Molly Long to make the score 15-8 in favor of Marian at the quarter break.
Grace and Marian traded scores to start the second frame with the Lancers buckets coming via trifectas from Kaylee Patton and Long which cut the deficit down to five points.
The Knights worked their lead up to as many as 12 points, until a 3-point shot from Morganne Houk cut it back down to single digits.
At halftime the Lancers trailed 33-21. Grace shot 32 percent from the floor in the opening half while Marian hit at a 67 percent clip. Grace was out rebounded 17-10
In the third quarter Marian proved their ranking as the No. 5 team in the country. The Knights opened the half on a 12-0 run to take a stranglehold on the contest.
Long and Marshall broke the run up with three free throws, but were unable to slow Marian’s offense which exploded for 26 points in the quarter and pushed their lead to 30 points.
Grace started the fourth quarter with a pair of quick scores from Patton and Ryman. Grace shot an efficient 5-9 from the floor in the final frame to help the Lancers outscore the Knights 16-11 over the final 10 minutes of play.
“I thought we played a little tentative tonight and you won’t win playing that way against a team as good as Marian,” said Grace head coach Dan Davis. “We got off to a good start but didn’t play our brand of ball until late in the third quarter. Thought we settled down in the fourth and finally started to look like ourselves.”
Patton led Grace with 12 points while also adding 4 steals, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Ryman had eight points and Murphy added five rebounds.
Grace finished the game 35 percent from the game while Marian closed out the game at 58 percent. The Knights out rebounded the Lancers 35-18.
The Lancers will return to action for a pair of road games next week. They travel to Indiana Wesleyan on Wednesday and Spring Arbor on Saturday.