Grace Men Fall Short To Spring ArborWINONA LAKE – You have to play two halves.
That’s how veteran Grace College men’s basketball coach Jim Kessler summed up his team’s 76-73 loss Tuesday night to Crossroads League opponent Spring Arbor University.
Specifically, Kessler was talking about his team’s defensive intensity.
The Lancers outscored the 23rd-ranked Cougars 35-28 in the second half and had a chance to win the game.
It was the 48 points Grace surrendered in the first half, leading to a 10-point deficit at the intermission, that the NAIA Hall of Fame coach was upset about.
“In the second half, they only scored 28 points,” Kessler said of Spring Arbor, which improved to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the league standings.
“We still had a chance to win it. We defended ourselves back in it. We missed some shots, but you know, in tight games you have to make some plays.
“It was just defensive intensity and execution that we needed to do. You have to play two halves.”
The Lancers, who fell to 8-2 overall and 0-2 in the Crossroads League, trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half.
They cut Spring Arbor’s lead to two, however, when a basket by junior Jaret Sons made it 74-72 with 21 seconds remaining.
With just under 10 seconds left, Spring Arbor’s Jeff Beckman made 1 of 2 free throw attempts to push the Cougars’ advantage to three.
Grace senior Logan Godfrey went to the charity stripe with four seconds left and made the first of two attempts, cutting the deficit to 75-73.
Godfrey intentionally missed the second attempt, but the ball didn’t hit the rim and the Cougars got the ball out of bounds.
The Lancers were forced to foul as soon as Spring Arbor inbounded the ball, and Tom Hamilton hit the first of two free throw attempts to account for the final score.
Grace had one last shot to tie the game with a desperation three-pointer but turned the ball over at midcourt.
After winning their first eight games of the season, the Lancers have lost league contests to No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan (92-86 in OT) and No. 23 Spring Arbor.
“We wanted to be proud of how we defended, and in the first half I was really disappointed and upset,” said Kessler. “You can’t give up 48 points ... the guys knew that and they turned it around.
“It’s intensity, but it’s execution, too. You have to work harder, but you have to work smarter at the same time.
“This is a tough league, but this team is capable. We’re certainly capably, but we have to put two halves together and make plays down the stretch.”
Things don’t get any easier, as the Lancers host No. 15 Bethel College in another Crossroads League battle Saturday.
Godfrey finished Tuesday’s game with 30 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.
Sons and fellow junior Braxton Linville, a former NorthWood standout, scored 10 points each.
“He did all he could do ... he was getting double-teamed constantly,” Kessler said of the 6-foot-7 Godfrey, a Fort Wayne Snider product.
“He was the man that they had to stop. They focused on him every possession. We probably should have gone to him even more in certain situations. He had a great game.”
Sophomore Brandon Durnell, a 6-6 Homestead High School product, was 7 of 11 from the field and led Spring Arbor with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Paul Marandet, who helped lead the Warsaw Tigers to the Class 4A semistate in 2016, scored 10 points in the first half for Spring Arbor and finished with 16.
SPRING ARBOR 76, GRACE COLLEGE 73
SA 48 28 – 76
GC 38 35 – 73
Spring Arbor – Nick Welch 4-10 1-3 9, Jeff Beckman 4-8 3-4 12, Tom Hamilton 3-9 1-3 7, Luke Barber 4-5 0-0 12, Paul Marandet 7-15 1-2 16, Payton DeWildt 0-5 0-0 0, Denver Cade 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Durnell 7-11 4-4 18, Daniel Cluster 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-64 10-16 76.
Grace – Haden Deaton 2-9 1-2 5, Logan Godfrey 11-20 7-10 30, Jaret Sons 4-11 0-0 10, Charlie Warner 3-7 0-0 7, Braxton Linville 3-5 4-4 10, Eddie Gill 2-4 1-3 6, Cody Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Martin Schiele 2-3 0-0 5, Joseph Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Noel Mpie 0-0 0-0 0, David Holden 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-59 13-19 73.
Three-pointers – Spring Arbor 6 (Barber 4, Beckman, Marandet), Grace 6 (Sons 2, Godfrey, Warner, Gill, Schiele); Rebounds – Spring Arbor 39 (Durnell 8), Grace 36 (Godfrey 14); Turnovers – Spring Arbor 10, Grace 10; Fouls – Spring Arbor 16, Grace 18; Fouled out – Deaton; Records: Spring Arbor 10-1 (2-0 Crossroads League), Grace 8-2 (0-2 Crossroads League)
