WINONA LAKE - As Jim Kessler is fond of saying, the bus driver needs to drive the bus. For the Grace College men's basketball team, that means junior point guard Bruce Grimm Jr. Grimm certainly had the keys Saturday afternoon, as he scored 31 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists in navigating the Lancers to an 81-70 win over Mid-Central College Conference rival St. Francis. Playing 35 of the game's 40 minutes, Grimm committed just one turnover. "Bruce did a nice job of leading us, especially in the second half," said Kessler, who notched the 648th win of his career. "The bus driver needs to drive the bus, and Bruce did that. For Bruce to play 35 minutes and only turn the ball over once as much as he handles the ball, that's stellar." Grimm scored 17 points and dished out four assists after the intermission, helping Grace turn a 31-28 halftime deficit into a double digit lead for much of the second half. The Lancers, ranked fifth in the NAIA Division II national poll, also got 19 points from senior Duke Johnson and 10 from sophomore Dennis Williams, as the two 6-foot-11 frontliners combined to go 10 of 13 from the field. Johnson was also 9 of 13 from the charity stripe. "We did a good job getting it inside, and that allowed our bigs to do what they need to do inside," said Kessler. With their sixth-straight win, the Lancers improved to 17-2 overall and 7-1 in the MCC. The 18th-ranked St. Francis Cougars fell to 13-7 overall and 4-4 in league play. Senior guard Qadr Owens led St. Francis with 23 points, while senior forward Kevin Dawson and sophomore forward Scott Kohne added 14 and 11 points, respectively. "It was a team effort to guard Q," Kessler said of Owens' performance. "He's just a quality player. He played 39 minutes, my goodness. He's just a quality player." With one game to play in the first half of the MCC season, the Lancers hold a two-game lead over No. 22 Huntington. No. 14 Indiana Wesleyan, No. 18 St. Francis, Bethel, Goshen and Spring Arbor are all 4-4 in MCC play, while Marian and Taylor are 3-5 and Mt. Vernon Nazarene is 2-6. The Lancers complete the first half of the MCC season with a game at Marian University in Indianapolis Tuesday, and then host MVNU Saturday afternoon in what could be Kessler's first attempt at career win No. 650. Mt. Vernon Nazarene is coached by former Columbia City High School and Grace College standout Matt Moore, who was Kessler's lead assistant before taking the head coaching position at MVNU. "We're going to take them one game at a time," said Kessler, whose team is looking for its first conference championship since 1993. "We need to worry about ourselves and keep doing what we need to do." Saturday's win marked the second-straight game the Lancers have been without the services of sophomore starting forward Greg Miller. Miller scored the winning basket in the closing seconds against Taylor, but suffered a groin injury during the game. In his absence against St. Francis, the Lancers got a 5-of-6 performance from the field from Williams. All of the Kingston, Jamaica native's points came in the second half. "Dennis played well in the second half," said Kessler. "He played within himself."
GRACE 81, ST. FRANCIS 70 USF 31 39 – 70 Grace 28 53 – 81 USF – Scott Kohne 4-11 3-4 11, Kevin Owens 3-8 8-11 14, Qadr Owens 7-20 6-9 23, Ethan Hussey 1-4 0-0 3, Seth Small 2-7 0-0 6, Brequan Tucker 0-0 0-0 0, LaRon Bryant 2-2 3-3 7, T.K. Fashawe 1-1 0-0 2, Spencer Comer 1-2 0-0 2, Brad Sneary 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-56 20-27 70. Grace – Dennis Williams 5-6 0-0 10, Duke Johnson 5-7 9-13 19, Jacob Peattie 1-5 0-0 2, Elliot Smith 3-6 2-2 9, Bruce Grimm Jr. 10-21 8-10 31, Lee Ross 1-3 2-2 4, Morgan Michalski 0-1 0-0 0, Niko Read 0-0 2-2 2, Jacob Goodman 0-0 0-0 0, Dayton Merrell 1-3 1-2 4, Benjamin Euler 0-0 0-0 0, Tannan Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Karl Columbus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 24-31 81. Three-pointers – USF 6 (Owens 3, Small 2, Hussey), Grace 5 (Grimm 3, Smith, Merrell); Rebounds – USF 27 (Dawson 10), Grace 28 (Grimm 6); Turnovers – USF 10, Grace 8; Fouls – USF 20, Grace 24; Fouled out – none; Records: USF 13-7 (4-4 MCC), Grace 17-2 (7-1 MCC)
