WINONA LAKE - Jim Kessler said Tuesday evening's victory over Manchester College wasn't pretty, but the 33rd-year Grace College men's basketball coach went on to say he'd take a 10-point win any time.
"It wasn't pretty, but a 10-point win is a 10-point win," said Kessler, whose Lancers hosted and defeated the Spartans 74-64 at the Orthopaedic Capital Center."Manchester was able to take some things away. They're well-coached."
The one thing Manchester couldn't take away from Grace, though, was a win.
With four players in double figures, the Lancers, who entered the game ranked 25th in the latest NAIA Division II poll, won their third-straight game and improved to 8-3 overall.
The Spartans fell to 4-5 on the season.
"We made shots when we had to," said Kessler. "Good teams make plays when they have to, and we did that tonight. It wasn't pretty, but we got a win."
Senior Eric Gaff led the Lancers with a game-high 20 points, while also pulling down 11 rebounds. Fellow frontliner David Swanson, a junior, finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while senior Michael Wienhorst and sophomore David Henry scored 11 points each for the Lancers.
Grace led by five, 61-56, with three-and-a-half minutes to play in the game, but a putback basket by Swanson, and then a steal by the 6-foot-6 junior led to a pair of free throws by Gaff, pushing the Lancers' advantage to nine, 65-56 with 3:18 to play.
The Spartans got no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
"Manchester played a good game," said Kessler. "They've got good shooters."
Jason Spindler led Manchester with 14 points, while Tyler Delauder was the only other Spartan in double figures, finishing the game with 11 points.
Nathan Ferch and Colin Clemens, a Warsaw grad, scored nine points each, while Mitch Schaefer added scored six points in the loss.
Clemens, a junior who transferred to Manchester from Indiana Tech, scored seven of his nine points in the first half.
Clemens' only two points of the second half cut Grace's lead to two, 52-50, with 8:56 to play.
The Lancers responded to Clemen's bucket with a nothing-but-net three-pointer from Henry.
Henry hit three treys in the game for Grace, while freshman Dayton Merrell hit two and Ryan Eakins and Wienhorst hit one three-pointer each.
The Lancers got 14 points off the bench, six points from Merrell, five points from Eakins and three points from Derek Johnson.
Grace will be in action again Friday and Saturday when the Lancers host the fifth annual Hoops For Hope Holiday Inn Express Optimist Tournament.
Cornerstone will play Missouri Baptist at 6 p.m. Friday, followed by Grace and Notre Dame College at 8 p.m.
The consolation game will be played Saturday at 1 p.m., followed by the championship game at 3 p.m.
GRACE 74, MANCHESTER 64
M 32 32 - 64
G 39 35 - 74
Manchester - Spindler 5 4-6 14, Henn 1 1-2 3, Delauder 4 0-0 11, Ferch 3 2-4 9, Schaefer 2 0-0 6, Moss 0 2-2 2, J. Smith 0 0-0 0, Clemens 4 0-0 9, L. Smith 2 0-0 4, Grabowski 0 4-4 4, Hooks 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 13-19 64.
