KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Grace’s men’s basketball team opened up tournament play in Kansas City with a resounding win over Northwestern on Thursday.
The No. 1 Lancers (33-1) beat fifth-seeded Northwestern 82-66 in the NAIA National Championships Round of 16.
With the win, Grace will advance to play 15 seed Evangel on Saturday at 4 p.m. (Eastern Time).
Grace also set a new program record with 33 wins, marking its most victories in a single season in team history.
Elijah Malone racked up 17 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks while being matched up with fellow NAIA center Alex Van Kalsbeek (3-15 FG, 7 points) for the Red Raiders (25-8).
Grace’s defense carried the day for Grace. The Lancers held Northwestern to 66 points on 41 percent shooting, also earning a plus-11 advantage in rebounds.
Grace was a mixed bag of offense to begin the game.
The Lancers turned the ball over five times in the opening six minutes, but Grace also shot the ball well when they kept it.
Elijah Malone helped Grace to an early lead with five quick points, and Grace found its touch from deep.
Brycen Graber, Malone, Jakob Gibbs, Cade Gibbs and Ian Scott all buried 3-pointers before eight minutes had expired. The Lancers opened up a 21-13 lead after Scott’s triple with 12 minutes left in the half.
Grace provided an onslaught of offense a few minutes later. The Lancers rattled off a 15-5 run to open up a 15-point lead. Malone scored on back-to-back plates, and Scott threw down a fastbreak dunk.
Grace charged into halftime with a 45-30 lead.
The Lancers shot 48 percent from the floor in the first half. Grace had a balanced production as usual with five players scoring at least seven points.
Malone led Grace with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots before halftime.
Grace had eight first-half turnovers but grabbed nine more rebounds than the Red Raiders.
Four minutes into the second half, Northwestern trimmed the lead to 12 at 49-37, but Brett Sickafoose was about to get hot.
Sickafoose found a game-clinching hot streak. He drilled four 3-pointers in the span of three minutes, the last of which blew Grace’s margin up to 27 at 70-43.
Two minutes later, Malone finished off a lob pass from Scott, pushing the Lancers’ cushion to 30 at 77-47.
The Red Raiders refused to go down easily, however. Northwestern continued to battle, eventually cutting Grace’s lead to 16 in the final minute.
But the damage was already done as Grace polished off the final possessions en route to the Round of 16 victory.
Sickafoose scored 14 points, and Jakob Gibbs had 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Cade Gibbs produced 9 points, 7 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals, and Scott had 8 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
Graber tallied eight points with three assists, and Carter Stoltzfus added 5 points, 5 assists, 4 boards and 2 steals.
Gage Sefton (4 points, 5 rebounds) and Ian Raasch (2 points) also scored off the bench. All 10 players who saw the court for Grace scored a point.
The Lancers will play in the NAIA “Elite Eight” for the second straight year.