WINONA LAKE – The nets at the Orthopaedic Capital Center have been changed before, but never cut down by Grace College's men's basketball team after winning a championship. That could change Tuesday night when the No. 2 seed Lancers host the fourth-seeded St. Francis Cougars at 7 p.m. in the finals of the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament. The Lancers, who shared the regular-season conference championship with Indiana Wesleyan, advanced to Tuesday night's title game by beating the visiting No. 3 seed Marian University Knights 62-53 Saturday afternoon. Grace, which snapped a five-game losing streak to Marian, improved to 23-7 and advanced to the MCC Tournament finals for the first time since 2008, when the Lancers fell to Bethel College. The Knights, who beat Grace 66-57 on Jan. 17 in Indianapolis and 70-54 on Feb. 7 at the OCC, fell to 19-10 on the season. "We had it written up on the board, this was about team will," said Grace College coach Jim Kessler. "We didn't shoot especially well, but they didn't either. We just stayed with the gameplan and won with team will." Grace was 21 of 48 (44 percent) from the field overall, 3 of 10 from the arc, and 17 of 22 at the free throw line. Marian finished the game 20 fo 58 (35 percent) from the field, 5 of 24 from three-point range, and 8 of 8 from the charity stripe. The MCC began holding its tournament in 1994. The Lancers have never won it. "We want to win the conference tournament," said Kessler. "We have a great opportunity Tuesday night." St. Francis, which beat No. 1 seed Indiana Wesleyan 78-65 Saturday afternoon, brings a 21-11 record in the MCC Tournament championship game. Grace beat the Cougars 81-70 in Winona Lake on Jan. 14 and 89-87 in Fort Wayne on Feb. 11. At stake Tuesday night is an automatic bid to the NAIA Divison II national tournament in Branson, Mo. With 10 teams in the conference, the MCC is awarded two bids to the national tournament. Indiana Wesleyan received one by virtue of a tiebreaker for winning the regular-season MCC championship. The Lancers have received at-large bids to Branson in three of past four seasons. This year, Kessler doesn't want to depend on the selection committee. "We want to earn our way into the national tournament," said Kessler. "We've been there three of the last four years, but we've depended on someone else. We want to take care of business ourselves this time." In Saturday's win over Marian, the Lancers led 36-26 at halftime. The Knights cut the deficit to two, 44-42, in the second half, but the Lancers responded with a 10-0 run. Six-foot-11 senior Duke Johnson led Grace with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while junior point guard Bruce Grimm Jr. added 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, and sophomore forward Greg Miller chipped in with 12 points and eight boards. Junior Elliot Smith and freshman Karl Columbus added eight and six points, respectively, in the win. For Marian, junior Aaron Evans scored a team-high 17 points, while senior Alex Sylvester added 10 points and eight rebounds in the loss.
GRACE 62, MARIAN 53 Marian 26 27 – 53 Grace 36 26 – 62 Marian – Jake Stafford 4-12 0-0 9, Jake Sullivan 1-4 0-0 3, Alex Sylvester 3-8 4-4 10, Aaron Evans 7-20 2-2 17, Eric Harris 2-6 0-0 6, Tyler Kleinschmidt 0-2 0-0 0, Drew Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Mac Fiely 0-2 0-0 0, Curtis Clem 1-1 0-0 2, Jess Chadwell 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Roberts 0-0 0-0 0, Dwight Cliff 2-3 2-2 6. Totals 20-58 8-8 53. Grace – Greg Miller 4-8 3-4 12, Duke Johnson 6-10 7-9 19, Jacob Peattie 0-2 0-0 0, Elliot Smith 3-6 0-0 8, Bruce Grimm Jr. 5-13 3-5 13, lee Ross 0-1 0-0 0, Dayton Merrell 0-2 4-4 4, Tannan Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Karl Columbus 3-6 0-0 6. Totals 21-48 17-22 62. Three-pointers – Marian 5 (Harris 2, Stafford, Sullivan, Evans), Grace 3 (Smith 2, Miller); Rebounds – Marian 26 (Sylvester 8), Grace 33 (Johnson 12); Turnovers – Marian 15, Grace 15; Fouls – Marian 22, Grace 11; Fouled out – Stafford; Records: 19-10, Grace 23-7
