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WINONA LAKE - With 11:25 left, Grace College was rollicking, and Indiana Wesleyan was reeling.
Sophomore forward Lawrence Burnett's three-point play put the Lancers men's basketball team ahead 46-31. The home crowd, sensing the end of a 10-game losing streak, roared its approval. The knockout punch was all but delivered.
Then reeling Indiana Wesleyan rallied. The Wildcats threw on a full-court press and responded with a 24-1 run to go up 55-47 with 3:31 left. Indiana Wesleyan rode that eight-minute spurt to a 65-62 win in Tuesday's game.
The Lancers, shorthanded without sophomore guard Ryan Bricker, their leading scorer with 14.5 points per game, dropped their 11th straight. Grace, at one time 9-9, fell to 9-20 overall and 0-11 in the Mid-Central Conference. Indiana Wesleyan snapped its six-game losing streak and improved to 15-10 overall and 4-7 in the MCC.
Grace managed to lose despite outrebounding Indiana Wesleyan 53-34, including 25-10 on the offensive glass. Here's why: The Lancers had one stretch of more than 10 minutes without a field goal, they committed six more turnovers and hit just 16 of 28 free throws.
Afterward, a disgruntled Jim Kessler, sitting in his swivel chair at his desk in his office, loosened his tie then let loose himself. Watching a team with a 10-game losing streak dating back to Jan. 8 blow a 15-point lead with 11 minutes left - on its home court, no less -Êdid not sit well with the Grace coach.
"It's a broken record," he said. "We outrebound our opponent. We have 17 turnovers to their 11, and we shoot 57 percent from the free throw line. That's the game."
He paused, then pounded his desk.
"Fifty-seven percent from the free throw line. This is college basketball," Kessler barked. "It's unexcusable.
"We get a chance to play against somebody, and we're without our leading scorer because he has the flu. When does it end?"
Senior forward Willie Ivory hit 5 of 13 from the field and led Indiana Wesleyan with 14 points. Junior reserve forward Nick Vetor, who came in averaging 2.5 points in 8.5 minutes per game, scored 11. Starting guards Kyle Chin and Danny Morris scored 10 each. Morris entered averaging 17.3 points, Ivory 12.6 and Chin 9.8.
Burnett, who averages 9.2 points per game, scored 16 on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. Junior guard Ben Tonagel, playing with a taped hand because of nagging injuries, added 15 but hit just 4 of 16 from the field.
Indiana Wesleyan's first lead came at 5-4 with 18:08 left in the first half. Its second lead came at 50-47 with 6:25 left. Once the Wildcats snared the lead, they never gave it back.
Coincidence or not, the Wildcats charged back into the game after coach Mark Fleming kicked the bench and received a technical. That happened with 11:39 left. Tonagel hit 1 of 2 technical free throws, then Burnett grabbed the offensive rebound off the free throw miss and converted his three-point play to put Grace up 46-31.
The fans went into a short-lived frenzy.
For the next eight minutes, it was all Indiana Wesleyan.
After sophomore forward Aaron Wilson hit two free throws to ignite the run, the Wildcats stole the ball three times in 62 seconds. They made baskets - two layups and a three-pointer - after each steal, and what was a 46-31 Grace lead with 11:25 left dwindled to a 46-40 lead with 9:53 left.
"We went to some full-court pressure and were lucky to get some steals," Fleming said. "We converted on some things in transition. Sometimes you look good when you put full-court pressure on; other times, the team scores layups."
Asked if he thought the technical rallied his players, Fleming said: "I never try to get a technical for that purpose. I can't say that I didn't think I might get a technical in that situation. I didn't think it was a very good call. I kicked the bleachers, and I guess he took offense to that."
The previously seldom-used Vetor played a key role in the 24-1 outburst, supplying 10 of the 24 points.
"Nick's a very good player," Fleming said. "The problem is, he's behind our second-leading scorer and our best perimeter defender (Ivory). We have a lot of confidence Nick. We just couldn't take him out tonight."
The Lancers tried to rally in the final three minutes, closing within 64-62 with seven seconds left, but scoring no field goals for more than 10 minutes - from 11:25 until 1:20 - was too much too overcome.
"You play hard, you prepare hard," Kessler said. "You have to finish the game. No excuses. We beat ourselves."
While Kessler talked about the loss, Grace assistant coach Jon Yeh wandered in and mentioned the 24-1 run by Indiana Wesleyan.
"Well, yeah, because we didn't even get a shot," Kessler said. "We threw it to the other team, for crying out loud. They foul us and we miss. What kind of offense can you play when you miss free throws and turn it over?"
Then Kessler sighed the sigh of a coach who is 0-11 and in last place in the conference.
"I honestly think we play hard," he said. "I can't ask more of our men. You can't imagine how it is to go this many weeks without a 'W' and still see young men work hard in practice. That thrills me.
"But to get in a situation like this over and over where we have this deluge of turnovers against people you really shouldn't ... I mean, you just gotta handle the ball.
"You cannot beat teams when you break at the free throw line and turn the ball over. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. But for the life of us, we can't do it."
INDIANA WESLEYAN 65 GRACE 62
IWU (14-10, 4-7 MCC) 21 44 - 65
Grace (9-20, 0-11 MCC) 26 36 - 62
IWU FG FT A S R Pts.
Ivory (F) 5-13 3-3 1 0 4 14
Morris (G) 4-13 1-2 5 4 3 10
Chin (G) 4-8 0-0 1 1 2 10
Kentosh (F) 2-3 2-2 0 2 0 7
Cordero (C) 1-4 0-1 1 0 5 2
Vector 3-5 4-6 1 0 3 11
Wilson 1-2 3-4 1 1 5 5
Hanson 1-4 2-2 0 1 1 4
Snyder 1-2 0-0 0 0 4 2
Hummel 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Dirks 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Team - - - - 7 -
Totals 22-56 15-20 10 9 34 65
Grace FG FT A S R Pts.
Burnett (F) 6-13 4-7 1 3 6 16
Tonagel (F) 4-16 6-8 2 1 1 15
Moore (G) 6-7 1-2 3 1 4 13
O'Dell (G) 2-5 1-3 5 1 4 6
Scharlach (C) 2-6 1-2 2 1 4 5
Brown 2-8 2-4 2 1 8 6
Swanson 0-2 1-2 0 0 3 1
Taylor 0-2 0-0 0 1 5 0
Wike 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 0
Team - - - - 16 -
Totals 22-59 16-28 15 9 53 62
Three-point goals - IWU 6-18 (Chin 2-3, Morris 1-6, Ivory 1-4, Vector 1-2, Kentosh 1-2, Hanson 0-1), Grace 2-12 (Tonagel 1-9, O'Dell 1-3). Turnovers -ÊGrace 17, IWU 11. Fouled out -ÊNone. Total fouls -ÊGrace 19, IWU 23. Technical foul - IWU coach Mark Fleming.
