Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - On a night the words of a song called Kryptonite could be heard through the speakers, it was Grace College's "men of steel" that led the Lancers to an 82-71 win over visiting IUSB Tuesday in men's basketball action.
Led by six-foot-6 senior Dan Scharlach, 6-8 freshman Joe Saunders and 6-5 freshman Matt Abernethy, Grace outrebounded the Titans 55-29.
"That's been a factor all year," Grace coach Jim Kessler said of his team's dominance on the boards. "That team, we should have outrebounded them. We've got some guys that like to make contact, that like to mix it up. Dan had 16 rebounds; that's a nice night of work isn't it?"
To go with Scharlach's 16 boards, Saunders grabbed eight, while Abernethy pulled down seven.
The win improves Grace's record to 6-6; IUSB, a team that owns a 3-12 all-time record against the Lancers, falls to 4-8.
In a double-header for Grace, the women's team topped Manchester 60-41.
The men's team started last night's game in fine fashion, jumping out to a 16-5 lead with 13:22 left in the first half when Mat Springer scored two of his 10 points.
Not to be outdone, though, the Titans went on a 14-3 run of their own to knot the game at 19 when Jon Witkop scored two points with 8:35 left in the first half.
"I think we got the lead and then we weren't doing the good things we needed to do," Kessler said. "They (IUSB) were agressive, they were scrappy. There were stretches where we were inept offensively."
The Lancers responded with a 10-4 run capped off by a three-point play by Abernethy that gave them a 29-23 lead with 4:34 left in the opening half.
Abernethy finished the game with 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the field and a 5-of-7 performance from the free throw line.
"Abernethy was ever-present again," Kessler said. "He was 11 of 12 from the field. He played an almost perfect game, he did a great job."
Also in double figures for the Lancers were Chris Irwin (19), Scharlach (12), Brian O'Dell (12) and Springer (10).
Springer and Irwin, both freshman, started in place of injured starters Ben Tonagel and Matt Moore.
"A couple of guys that thought they were gonna get a good meal before the game and get a good seat played a huge role for us," Kessler said. "We hoped they would get some good minutes this year, but I didn't expect to see Irwin play 32 minutes and Springer 33 1/2 minutes. They really stepped up and gave us some additional depth."
After trailing 40-32 at halftime, the Titans got within one, 42-41, when Witkop scored two points off a steal with 16:25 remaining in the game.
Witkop finished the game with 14 points, as did Rex Betzner. David Herring and Brian Keiser led the IUSB scoring attack with 15 points each. Mike Remley scored seven points off the bench in the losing effort.
The Lancers responded to Witkop's basket with a 14-2 run that pushed the lead to 56-43 with 11:33 remaining.
IUSB was as close as five, 72-67, with 1:02 left to play, before Grace made good on a slew of free throws to secure the win.
The Lancers connected on 25 of 27 free throws in the win, including a 13-of-14 performance in the second half.
"I want to praise our men for what they did at the free-throw line, 25 of 27," Kessler said. "How many times last year did we shoot 40 percent at the line? We've made great improvements there, and that's a tribute to them."
Grace was 8 of 8 at the charity stripe in the last 57 seconds of the game.
GRACE 82, IUSB 71
IUSB (4-8) 32 39 - 71
Grace (6-6) 40 42 - 82
IUSB FG FT R A S Pts.
* Chelminiak 1-8 0-0 0 1 4 2
* Witkop 5-14 2-2 5 2 4 14
* R. Betzner 5-17 4-4 4 1 1 14
* Herring 6-12 0-0 5 2 1 15
* Keiser 7-12 1-4 2 2 2 15
Remley 1-4 4-4 3 2 0 7
Noble 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Szakaly 0-2 2-4 3 0 1 2
VanDeille 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
B. Betzner 1-3 0-0 2 0 1 2
Totals 26-72 13-18 29 13 14 71
Grace FG FT R A S Pts.
* Irwin 4-11 8-8 5 3 1 19
* O'Dell 5-10 0-0 6 7 0 12
* Abernethy 11-12 5-7 8 3 1 27
* Springer 2-4 6-6 6 0 0 10
* Scharlach 4-9 4-4 16 1 0 12
Saunders 0-4 0-0 7 1 0 0
Wike 0-1 0-0 1 2 0 0
Jackson 0-2 2-2 1 1 0 2
Swanson 0-3 0-0 2 0 0 0
Smith 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 0
Totals 26-58 25-27 55 18 3 82
Three-point goals - IUSB 6-29 (Chelminiak 0-3, Witkop 2-5, R. Betzner 0-7, Herring 3-9, Remley 1-4), Grace 5-15 (Irwin 3-6, Smith 0-1). Turnovers - IUSB 7, Grace 22. Fouls - IUSB 23, Grace 16. Fouled out - Remley.
