Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - For a time, it seemed as Taylor Unviersity-Fort Wayne was going to go scoreless.
For a time, it seemed Grace's offense was going to short out the scoreboard.
The Grace College men's basketball team scored 16 unanswered points to start the game Tuesday night and cruised to a 102-70 win at Lancer Gym Tuesday.
Sharp ball movement and a strong rebounding edge gave Taylor fits all night.
The Lancers pulled down 54 rebounds to just 28 for Taylor.
Six-foot-10 sophomore Eric Gaff, a Concord High School grad, led the way for Grace with 11 rebounds and also had 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
"Eric Gaff wasn't a post player until his senior year of high school," said Grace coach Jim Kessler. "He's maturing into a nice post player."
Gaff is complimented by a finally healthy Kyle Johnson. Johnson, a 6-7 junior forward from Jimtown High School, is completely healthy for the first time since being at Grace, according to Kessler.
Johnson showed his athleticism in scoring 13 points, three of which came on a three-pointer, and pulling down six rebounds.
The Lancers were led in scoring by junior Marcus Moore's 14 points. Moore earned Mid-Central Conference and NCCAA Student-Athlete of the Week honors last week.
Seven players hit double-digit scoring for Grace.
Along with Gaff, Johnson and Moore, freshmen Tyler Leighton and David Swanson scored 11 points each, senior David Ritter had 10 and sophomore Michael Wienhorst scored 10.
Wienhorst, a 2005 Warsaw Community High School graduate, was 3 of 5 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.
Austin Kaiser, a 2005 Wawasee High School grad finished his evening with six points and two assists.
Wienhorst and Kaiser shared Times-Union Player of the Year honors in 2005.
After jumping out to a 16-point lead to start the game, Grace leveled out and Taylor began to hit some shots.
The Lancers had a late run to end the first half and pushed their lead to 20 at 46-26 when Swanson hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1.9 seconds left in the half.
Grace continued to push the ball up and down the court in the second half and led by as many as 34 points.
Frustration took over for Taylor when senior Rich Taylor earned his fourth personal foul and a technical when he threw an elbow at a Grace player after a missed layup.
Despite the extracurriculars, Grace remained focused and sharp as it played its brand of run-and-gun basketball.
"This team's got a little different spirit about them," said Kessler. "We've got some people who like to play and get out there and push the ball. And that's what we're going to do."
Though Grace's offense is appealing and fun to watch, Kessler insists any success his team has starts with defense.
"We have to let our defense help us build some offense," said Kessler. "We've got to come out strong off the blocks with our defense and we did that tonight. We were a little spurty and a little wild at times, but overall we did a good job."
Grace forced Taylor into 21 turnovers and allowed Taylor to shoot just 37 percent (25-67) from the field.
The Lancers are averaging 98.4 points per game and were able to spread the ball around Tuesday night as 12 players got in the scoring column.
Grace moved to 5-0 on the season, the Lancers' best start since 1996 when they started the year 6-0.
The Lancers are in action this weekend at the Ashford Classic in Iowa. Grace will take on Ashford University and St. Ambrose University.
GRACE 102, TAYLOR-FW 70
Taylor-FW 25 44 - 70
Grace 46 56 - 102
Taylor-FW FG FT R S Pts.
*Hogue 0-4 2-2 0 2 2
*Thomas 3-10 0-0 1 0 7
*S. Bratton 2-5 1-2 2 0 6
*Lentz 4-9 2-2 6 2 11
*C. Bratton 3-5 0-0 2 2 6
Howat 3-6 2-3 4 1 9
Morningstar 4-8 2-2 0 1 12
Gay 2-7 0-0 4 1 4
Yoder 1-7 3-3 2 1 5
Boldt 1-4 0-0 0 0 2
Niparavacius 2-2 0-0 1 0 6
Totals 25-67 12-14 29 10 70
Grace FG FT R S Pts.
*Ritter 4-6 0-0 3 4 10
*M. Moore 4-12 5-6 7 3 14
*S. Moore 1-5 5-7 4 2 8
*Johnson 6-9 0-0 6 0 13
*Gaff 8-10 1-3 11 0 13
Kaiser 2-6 1-2 1 1 6
Eakins 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Firebaugh 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Winkleman 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Swanson 5-8 1-3 5 1 11
Wienhorst 3-5 4-4 6 0 10
McKinzie 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 38-73 18-29 54 12 102
Three-point goals - Taylor 8-22 (Niparavacius 2-2, Morningstar 2-4, Howat 1-3, Thomas 1-2, S. Bratton 1-1, Lentz 1-2), Grace 8-20 (Leighton 2-3, Leighton 2-5, Kaiser 1-3, M. Moore 1-4, S. Moore 1-3, Johnson 1-1) . Turnovers - Taylor 21, Grace 19. Fouls - Taylor 21, Grace 17 . Fouled out - S. Bratton (Taylor)
