WINONA LAKE – Rather than revenge, veteran Grace College men's basketball coach Jim Kessler called Saturday's win over Goshen College a re-do. Anyway you look at it, Kessler and his Lancers were a lot happier about Saturday's 82-59 victory than they were after giving up an 18-point second-half lead and falling to the Maple Leafs on Dec. 7. “I reminded the players what happened in December,” said Kessler, whose team fell 81-71 in overtime that day. "This wasn't revenge, it was a re-do. I thought we did a good job staying intense the whole game.” En route to the 23-point win, the Lancers led by as many as 21 points in the first half and never allowed Goshen to get closer than 17 points after the intermission. “When we go hard, we can play pretty well,” said Kessler, whose team has won six of its last seven games. “Goshen has struggled against a lot of teams, but they didn't give up. We had them down last time and they came back. It was important to keep the intensity up and not let that happen again.” With the win, Grace improved to 14-9 overall and 6-6 in Crossroads League action, while Goshen fell to 4-19 and 1-10. With six games remaining, Huntington, Indiana Wesleyan and St. Francis are all 9-3 in league play, while Marian is 8-3. The Lancers have defeated Huntington, Marian and St. Francis this season and still face each of them again down the stretch. “Anything can happen in this league,” said Kessler. “You have to show up every game. We've got a big road game at Spring Arbor Tuesday, and then St. Francis comes to town Saturday.” Bethel is 8-4 in Crossroads League action, followed by Grace (6-6), Spring Arbor (5-7), Taylor (3-9), Goshen (1-10) and Mt. Vernon Nazarene (1-11). In their win, the Lancers shot 56 percent from the field, while holding the Maple Leafs to 35 percent. Grace also had a huge advantage on the boards, outrebounding Goshen 39-22. Senior Greg Miller led the way with 19 points and nine rebounds, while sophomore Brandon Vanderhegghen added 14 points and four assists and junior Niko Read chipped in with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Kyle Fillman contributed 10 points and nine boards, while sophomore Logan Irwin finished with 10 points and seven assists. “Five players in double figures, and we also got nine points out of Jared Treadway, we had really good balance offensively,” said Kessler. Senior Jerron Jamerson led the Maple Leafs with 15 points, freshman Tre Boyd chipped in with 14 points. No other Goshen player scored more than eight points. Prior to the start of Saturday's game, Kessler was presented a commerative jersey from Chad Briscoe, the school's Director of Athletics, and President Dr. Bill Katip, recognizing the program's 1,000th career win. The Lancers, in their 57th season of men's hoops, achieved the milestone in an 85-73 win at Mt. Vernon Nazarene on Jan. 21. Kessler, in his 37th season at the helm of the program, has coached Grace to 693 of those wins.
