WINONA LAKE – The senior leadership that Grace College men’s basketball coach Jim Kessler said would be his team’s strength this season was on full display Friday night. In the semifinals of the annual Terry Polston Hoops For Hope Tournament at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, seniors Brandon Vanderhegghen and Kyle Fillman led the 14th-ranked Lancers to a 95-49 win over the Great Lakes Christian College Lakes. With senior point guard Logan Irwin, who last week became the 46th player in program history to score 1,000 career points, sidelined with an ankle injury, Vanderhegghen scored a game-high 17 points, while Fillman added 13. Vanderhegghen finished the game 6 of 8 from the field overall and 5 of 6 from three-point range, while Fillman was 6 of 6 and also pulled down five rebounds. Because Grace took control early and cruised to the win, Vanderhegghen played just 13 minutes, while Fillman logged 12 minutes of action. Kessler, whose team improved to 5-0 on the season, also spoke highly of senior Drew Perrin, a guard that doesn’t play a lot of minutes but started in Irwin’s absence and scored six points. “I was pleased with the intensity of the men who started the game,” said Kessler. “We’re missing Logan, and Brandon stepped up as a leader, and Kyle stepped up. We still had three seniors who really stepped up and gave us leadership. I was particularly pleased with Drew Perrin. “Drew doesn’t always play that much, and he really was a quality leader for us. He got after it and stuck his man, and I was really pleased with that.” Freshman Tim Swanson, a former Warsaw standout, came off the bench to score 14 points, an effort that included four treys. Junior Tre Olive came off the bench to score 13 points, while sophomore Stephen Halstead started the contest and scored 10 points to go along with five boards, two assists and two steals. “Those guys go hard everyday in practice, and tonight we had a chance to get them some playing time,” said Kessler. “I was pleased with that.” In all, 11 players saw the court for the Lancers, with 10 of them scoring. Nine Grace players scored at least six points. The Lancers opened the game with a 16-0 run. Great Lakes Christian didn’t score until McKinley Geter’s bucket with 13:36 remaining in the first half. After cruising to a 49-22 lead at halftime, the Lancers outscored the Lakes 25-7 over the first eight minutes of the second half. With their dominating win, the Lancers advanced to today’s 3 p.m. tournament final against Grace Bible College, which beat Purdue-Calumet in Friday’s first semifinal. Great Lakes and Purdue-Calumet will square off in the consolation game at 1 p.m. Funds raised from the tournament will be donated to the Kosciusko County Cancer Care Fund. “It’s our effort as the Grace College Athletic Department and a basketball team to contribute to the battle against cancer,” said Kessler. “Certainly it’s close to my heart with my granddaughter (12-year-old Claudia, a cancer survivor). All of us are effected by it in some way, so we all need to pitch in. I want my men to understand they have a duty as citizens of this country to contribute when they can. We’re so blessed, and we need to help each other. For us to be able to help, that’s really a joy.” Geter led Great Lakes Christian with 13 points, while Ezra Beckwith scored 12 points. David Parks and Anthony Kaminski chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively, for the Lakes.
GRACE COLLEGE 95, GREAT LAKES CHRISTIAN 49 GLC 22 27 – 49 GC 49 46 – 95 Great Lakes – Ezra Beckwith 5-12 0-1 12, McKinley Geter 6-13 0-0 13, Joseph Parks 0-2 0-0 0, Nathan Shelton 1-6 0-0 3, Anthony Kaminski 4-7 0-0 8, Mikhail Perkins 1-5 2-2 4, Danny Buegar 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 2-3 49. Grace – Caleb Featherston 2-4 0-0 4, Kyle Fillman 6-6 1-4 13, Stephen Halstead 4-12 0-0 10, Drew Perrin 3-6 0-0 6, Brandon Vanderhegghen 6-8 0-0 17, John Swanson 3-4 0-2 6, Eric Miller 3-7 0-0 6, Tre Olive 6-8 1-2 13, Tim Swanson 5-10 0-0 14, Chad Hoffer 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Warren 1-1 4-4 6. Totals 39-67 6-12 95. Three-pointers – Great Lakes 7 (Parks 3, Beckwith 2, Geter, Shelton), Grace 11 (Vanderhegghen 5, Swanson 4, Halstead 2); Rebounds – Great Lakes 26 (Kaminski 7), Grace 34 (Miller 7); Turnovers – Great Lakes 24, Grace 10; Fouls – Great Lakes 13, Grace 10; Fouled out – none.
