WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace’s men’s basketball team flexed its muscles during an 89-75 win over Indiana Wesleyan on Wednesday.
The Lancers have won 10 of their past 11 games, sitting at 17-4 overall (9-2 Crossroads League). Grace sits one game out of first place in the league standings with seven games to play.
Grace enjoyed a hot-shooting night, making 63 percent as a team and 47 percent from the 3-point line to complete the season sweep of IWU.
The Lancers clicked offensively from the opening tipoff, scoring on its first three possessions. Ian Scott set the tone with an alley-oop dunk on Grace’s first play.
The score remained practically deadlocked for the first 11 minutes of the first half before Grace started to gain breathing room.
A 3-pointer from Hunter Walston gave the Lancers a 23-21 lead, and Grace never trailed again.
A late 10-2 run helped Grace earn more separation, led by five straight points from Scott.
Grace charged into halftime with a 42-34 advantage. Brycen Graber was a key driver of Grace’s success in the half, finishing with 10 points and four assists.
The Lancers outrebounded IWU by six and had a decisive 11-0 advantage in bench points, thanks to the combined 11 points from Carter Stoltzfus and Walston.
Grace produced another fast start to the second half, scoring on its first four plays. Brett Sickafoose canned a 3-pointer on the first play, and Gage Sefton scored four.
Four minutes into the second half, Grace erupted with 11 unanswered points with five of those points coming from Sickafoose. The Wildcats were forced to burn an early timeout, but it did little to slow the Lancers.
Grace opened up a 20-point lead with 14 minutes left in the contest, and the Wildcats struggled to generate a comeback.
A triple from Justin DeGraaf gave Grace a commanding 82-58 lead with 5:39 remaining, and the Lancers strolled to the final buzzer with a comfortable win.
Grace had a marked advantage in the paint, outscoring IWU 46-28 in the paint to go along with a plus-seven edge in rebounding.
Grace tallied 22 assists on just nine turnovers, its third-fewest of the season.
Scott shot 9 of 10 from the floor, finishing with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.
Sickafoose poured in 18 points with a trio of 3s, and Ian Raasch shot 6 of 7 for his 13 points.
Graber had 14 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds, Stoltzfus notched nine points with four assists, Sefton had seven points and four boards, Walston had five points, and DeGraaf added three points with three rebounds.
Grace has now beaten five ranked teams on the season.
The Lancers are home again on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Spring Arbor.

Short Handed Lancers Fall Against Top Ranked Wildcats
WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace College’s women’s basketball team fell to the No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats 59-43 on Wednesday night.
The Lancers (9-12, 2-9 Crossroads League) have been injury plagued as of late, and entered the game with just seven active players.
Despite playing shorthanded, Grace gave Indiana Wesleyan (21-0, 11-0 CL) all they could handle leading for nearly the entirety of the first half and held the high-powered Wildcats offense, which had been averaging 84.5 points per game, to the second lowest total in two years.
Grace had four different players score in the opening minutes as they traded scores with IWU.
Peyton Murphy broke a tie with a 3-point basket in the middle of the opening quarter and added a layup off of an assist from Kensie Ryman just moments later.
The Lancers doubled up the Wildcats score late in frame when Sophia Morrison connected on Grace’s third trifecta of the quarter. At the quarter break Grace led 14-10.
Grace’s offense struggled in the second quarter as they would shoot just 18 percent from the field, but the Lancers carried the lead deep into the half behind a strong effort from their defense.
Ryman and Maddy Poynter had Grace’s two buckets in the second quarter which kept Grace in the lead until IWU edged ahead 20-19.
Bekah Marshall added a late free throw for Grace, but a last second jumper from IWU saw Grace enter the half trailing 22-19.
The Lancers shot 29 percent in the first half while holding the Wildcats to 28 percent. The Lancers connected on 43 percent of their 3-point field goals.
The second half started with the Wildcats going on a 9-2 run to push their lead 31-21. Houk momentarily broke up the Wildcats run with a tough layup in the paint, but IWU continued to stretch their lead.
After falling behind by 14 points, Murphy sparked a 6-0 run that was capped off by Becca Gerdt.
The Wildcats jumped back ahead by double digits before a late trifecta from Morrison pulled the Lancers to within 10 points entering the final stanza.
Grace shot 33 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter, but the Lancers were unable to keep pace with the Wildcats who finally found their offensive rhythm.
The Lancers were outscored 17-11 in the frame, ultimately falling 59-43.
“So proud of our team tonight,” said Grace head coach Dan Davis. “Obviously injuries have taken their toll and we were down to seven players but these ladies refused to back down from one of the premier teams in the country. Thought that the grit and toughness we showed tonight is something we can build off of for the rest of the season.”
Grace finished the game shooting 33 percent while IWU shot 44 percent. The Lancers out rebounded the Wildcats 31-26 but committed eight more turnovers.
All seven active players saw playing action, and played at least 21 minutes.