MARION - To quote Grace College men's basketball coach Jim Kessler, who himself was quoting current West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, "championship teams make open shots."
Kessler's Lancers, ranked 16th in the NAIA Division II national poll, played for the Mid-Central Collge Conference regular season championship Saturday afternoon at ninth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University.Grace shot just 24 of 63 (38 percent) from the field overall, including a 12-of-36 performance in the second half.
As a result of their shooting struggles, as well as being outscored 30-13 at the free throw line, the Lancers fell 77-65 to the host Wildcats, who finished the game 26 of 61 (43 percent) but were 13 of 28 in the second half.
"Championship teams make open shots," said Kessler, referring to the quote he pointed out from Huggins. "We had open shots. Indiana Wesleyan made them, and we didn't. You can't win when you shoot 38 percent, let alone 33 percent in the second half."
Grace entered Saturday's game at Luckey Arena having won 11 of its last 13 games, while Indiana Wesleyan had lost lost 3 of 4 after winning 19 in a row.
The Lancers fell to 21-9 overall and 11-5 in the MCC, while the Wildcats improved to 24-6 and 13-3.
The 12-point win gave Indiana Wesleyan the No. 1 seed in this week's conference tournament.
The Wildcats will host eighth-seeded Bethel Wednesday at 7 p.m., while No. 2 seed Grace will host seventh-seeded Taylor at the same time.
Other first-round games Wednesday include No. 3 St. Francis (10-6) hosting No. 6 Marian (7-9) and No. 4 Huntington (9-7) entertaining No. 5 Spring Arbor.
"We were 6-10 in the MCC last year," said Kessler. "This year we went into the last game playing for the championship. We came up short, but now we have to get ready for the conference tournament, and hopefully the National Tournament."
Grace and IWU were in a back-and-forth battle in the first half Saturday, with the Wildcats taking a 35-32 advantage into the intermission.
The Lancers trailed 51-39 with 13:03 remaining in the game, but a basket by sophomore point guard Bruce Grimm Jr. capped off 10-2 run that cut IWU's advantage to 53-49 with 8:25 left.
That was as close as Grace got, however, as the Wildcats built their lead up to 17 points, 75-58, when senior Will Hubertz hit a three-pointer.
Patrick Hopkins led IWU with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Jordan Weidner added 19 points and five assists and Aaron Martin chipped in with 17 points and six boards.
The Wildcats, who beat Grace 79-67 in Winona Lake on Jan. 18, finished the regular season with a 12-1 record at Luckey Arena.
Of Grace's nine losses, seven of them were on the road.
The Lancers were led by freshman Greg Miller, who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Sophomore Elliot Smith and junior Duke Johnson scored 13 points each, while Grimm finished with nine points.
INDIANA WESLEYAN 77, GRACE 65
GC 32 33 - 65
IWU 35 42 - 77
Grace - Greg Miller 7-25 304 18, Duke Johnson 5-9 3-3 13, David Henry 1-6 2-3 5, Elliot Smith 5-10 0-0 13, Bruce Grimm Jr. 3-14 2-2 9, Jacob Peattie 1-3 0-0 2, Dayton Merrell 1-2 0-1 3, Tannan Peters 0-2 0-0 0, Stephen Kaufman 0-0 0-0 0, Dennis Williams 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 24-63 10-13 65.
IWU - George Jones 2-5 3-3 7, Aaron Martin 5-8 6-8 17, Patrick Hopkins 8-18 3-4 19, Will Hubertz 2-10 0-0 8, Jordan Weidner 5-15 9-13 19, David Peters 1-2 1-2 3, Taylor Schoen 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Williams 1-2 0-0 2, Sebastian Weber 1-1 0-0 2, Zach Arington 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 22-30 77.
