MISHAWAKA - It's no secret that when Grace College's men's basketball teams works the offense through post the Lancers are tough to beat.
Such was the case Tuesday night, as 6-foot-11 junior Duke Johnson was 10 of 13 from the field and scored a game-high 26 points, leading the 17th-ranked Lancers to an 87-82 win at Mid-Central College Conference rival Bethel."I've said all along, we're pretty good when we run things through Duke," said veteran Grace College coach Jim Kessler, whose team won at Bethel for the first time since the 2006-2007 season.
"Duke showed up big time tonight," Kessler continued. "David Henry really stepped up, and Greg Miller gave us some solid minutes. We got scoring inside and outside, and we were patient. This was a team effort."
Henry, a 5-11 senior guard, scored 19 points in the win and was 4 of 5 from three-point range, while Miller, a 6-6 freshman, finished with 14 points and five rebounds.
Grace has won six of its last seven games and improved to 16-7 overall and 6-3 in MCC play, while Bethel lost its fourth straight contest and dropped to 13-11 overall and 3-7 in conference action.
In the 116th meeting of the rivalry, a series that Bethel leads 59-57 after Tuesday night's battle, the teams were tied 70-70 with six minutes remaining in the game.
Over the next three minutes, Johnson single-handedly led the Lancers on a 10-2 run, and then a three-pointer by Henry gave Grace an 83-74 lead with 1:27 to play.
Bethel cut the deficit to four, 83-79, with 27 seconds remaining on a three-pointer by Steve Ward, but the Lancers answered with a bucket from Miller and a pair of free throws from sophomore Elliot Smith to make it an eight-point game with six seconds left.
Grace, which trailed 38-36 at halftime after shooting 48 percent from the field and turning the ball over seven times, shot 62 percent in the second half, turned the ball over just four times and scored 51 points.
"In the second half, Bruce (Grimm Jr.) gave us the kind of leadership we need," Kessler said of his sophomore point guard. "In the second half he played like a point guard is supposed to."
Grimm didn't have his best shooting performance of the season, but was able to run the show and distribute the ball. The former Rochester High School standout finished the game with eight points, three assists and three steals.
Johnson scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half and became the 42nd player in Grace College men's basketball history to score 1,000 points in a career.
The Jimtown High School product currently has 1,001 points.
Johnson will look to add to that total Saturday, when the Lancers host MCC rival Marian at 3 p.m. at the Orthopaedic Capital Center. Grace lost 71-50 at Marian on Dec. 4, as Johnson left the game with an injury in the first half.
The Lancers are currently in third place in the MCC standings, trailing fifth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan (10-0) and No. 11 St. Francis (7-3).
Ryan Benner led Bethel with 20 points, while Caleb Laidig scored 16 points and Landon Booker and Joe Welch chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
GRACE 87, BETHEL 82
Grace 36 51 - 87
Bethel 38 44 - 82
Grace - Dayton Merrell 3-4 0-0 6, Tannan Peters 2-3 0-0 4, Duke Johnson 10-13 6-9 26, David Henry 6-7 3-4 19, Bruce Grimm Jr. 2-13 4-6 8, Michael Humphrey 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Peattie 1-1 2-3 4, Elliot Smith 1-6 2-2 4, Greg Miller 6-10 1-1 14, Stephen Kaufman 0-0 0-0 0, Dennis Williams 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 32-58 18-25 87.
Bethel - Joe Welch 5-7 1-2 11, Landon Booker 4-10 2-2 12, Kyle Ritz 2-7 0-0 4, Caleb Laidig 5-9 6-7 16, Ryan Benner 7-13 3-5 20, Steve Ward 2-6 0-0 6, Taylor Kolbus 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Mislan 0-0 0-0 0, Darrell Hopkins 4-5 1-4 9, Patrick Oetting 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 31-59 13-20 82.
