WINONA LAKE - Both St. Francis and Grace College struggled shooting the ball during Saturday's semifinal round of the Mid-Central College Conference men's basketball tournament.
The difference was the third-seeded St. Francis Cougars made shots when they needed to, and it led to a 67-60 win over the second-seeded Lancers at the Orthopaedic Capital Center."They made shots when they needed to, and we didn't," said Grace College coach Jim Kessler. "We just couldn't get a break. We'd get a turnover, and then we wouldn't convert. St. Francis made the plays when they had to, and they won the game."
With his team leading 62-59 with 18 seconds remaining, St. Francis senior DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis stepped to the line for a pair of free throws.
The 6-foot-5 standout and MCC Player of the Year converted the first attempt to push the Cougars' lead to four, and after missing the second shot, Sawyer-Davis got grabbed the rebound and put it in for two more points to seal the deal.
"He made a big play," Kessler said of Sawyer-Davis. "That's why he's the Conference Player of the Year."
Sawyer-Davis was just 6 of 14 from the field and 6 of 10 from the charity stripe but finished with a game-high 21 points.
Fellow senior Ferdinand Morales-Soto added 19 points and 11 rebounds in the win, while junior Qadr Owens chipped in with 13 points.
The Cougars, who finished the game 21 of 55 (38 percent) from the field overall and 15 of 21 at the free throw line, improved to 23-9 on the season and will play at No. 1 seed Indiana Wesleyan in Tuesday's championship game.
Indiana Wesleyan advanced by beating fifth-seeded Spring Arbor 76-72.
Playing without first-team All-MCC player Bruce Grimm Jr., who was in the hospital with a staph infection, Grace was 19 of 53 from the field overall and 1 of 16 from three-point range.
In a physical game that featured 47 fouls and 59 free throws, the Lancers were 21 of 25 at the charity stripe.
"You take out a first-team All-Conference player, and that's gonna change your team," said Kessler, whose team beat St. Francis twice in the regular season with Grimm in the lineup. "Bruce drives the bus for us, he does a lot of things for us."
In the Lancers' 57-56 win over the Cougars on Feb. 15, Grimm scored 21 points, including the game-winning bucket.
Junior Duke Johnson led the way for Grace Saturday, shooting 6 of 16 from the field for a team-high 19 points. The 6-foot-11 frontliner also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Junior Jacob Peattie, who made a number of spectacular plays to keep the Lancers in the game, including a two-handed put-back dunk, scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
Junior Dayton Merrell added 10 points and five boards in the loss.
Prior to Saturday, Grace had won 13 of its last 15 games and sported a 13-2 record at the OCC.
Now with a 22-10 record, the Lancers must wait and see if they get an at-large bid to the NAIA Division II national tournament.
"I think we've made a case for ourselves," said Kessler. "We finished 11-5 in the MCC, we beat the defending national champions twice. Now we'll just wait and see."
Grace - Dayton Merrell 2-5 6-6 10, Greg Miller 3-5 1-2 7, Duke Johnson 6-16 7-9 19, David Henry 1-8 0-0 2, Elliot Smith 1-7 3-4 5, Michael Humphrey 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Peattie 6-9 2-2 15, Benjamin Euler 0-1 0-0 0, Tannan Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Dennis Williams 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 19-53 21-25 60.
Three-pointers - St. Francis 4-15 (Sawyer-Davis 3, Owens), Grace 1-16 (Peattie); Rebounds - St. Francis 40 (Morales-Soto 11), Grace 31 (Johnson 8); Turnovers - St. Francis 13, Grace 15; Fouls - St. Francis 20, Grace 27; Fouled out - Edmonds, Miller; Records: St. Francis 23-9, Grace 22-10.
