WINONA LAKE – Grace College men’s basketball coach Jim Kessler has been disappointed with his team’s defensive intensity as of late. Hosting the Grace Bible College Tigers in the semifinals of the Bennigan’s Terry Polston Hoops For Hope Tournament Friday night, the Lancers’ turned up the pressure and closed the first half with a 21-6 run. That spurt allowed the Lancers to take control of the game, which they eventually won 88-66 at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. “When we got control is when we picked up the defensive intensity,” said Kessler, whose team improved to 7-1 on the season and advanced to today’s 4 p.m. tournament final against IU-East, a 70-68 winner over the Clarke Crusaders in Friday’s first semifinal. “I haven’t been pleased with the way we’ve played defensively,” added Kessler. “When we got into them tonight, we slowed them down. That’s what we need to do every game.” Leading 23-22, the Lancers closed the opening 20-minute period with the 21-6 run. Coming out of the halftime break, the Lancers shined offensively, making 15 of their first 21 shots. The visiting Tigers were never able to recover, and the Lancers cruised to the win. Niko Read led the Lancers with a game-high 17 points, while Brandon Vanderhegghen added 14 points, Caleb Featherston and Logan Irwin scored 10 points each, Stephen Halstead and Adrian Makolli chipped in with eight each and Erik Bowen finished with seven points. In all, 11 players scored for the Lancers. “We don’t have any superstars,” said Kessler. “We all have roles, and we need everyone to contribute. Niko has emerged as a pretty good shooter for us, but we need to keep getting consistent contributions from everyone.” Read, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, finished the game 6 of 10 from the field overall and 4 of 7 from three-point range. As a team, the Lancers were 34 of 65 from the field overall, 12 of 24 from the arc, and 8 of 12 at the charity stripe. The Lancers dished out 18 assists to just nine turnovers in the win. “For us to be successful, we need to play ‘we ball,’” said Kessler. “For us, that means making the extra pass, sometimes the third and fourth pass. We’ve got some pieces on this team ... we have to have them all working together.” Included in the Lancers’ seven wins this season is a 57-53 win over No. 20 Ashford University. The team’s lone loss is a 95-91 setback to No. 14 St. Ambrose. In IU-East, the Lancers will face a team that is 8-1 and receiving votes in the NAIA Div. II national poll. Grace Bible, which fell to 4-4 on the season, was 25 of 58 from the field in the loss. The Tigers were 10 of 13 at the charity stripe, but made just 6 of 21 attempts from the arc. Grace Bible dished out 14 assists Friday, but turned the ball over 15 times. Rod Altidore led the Tigers with 16 points, while Bernard Smith and Cameron Cramer scored nine and eight points, respectively, and Travis Rader and B.J. Van Loo finished with seven points each. Grace Bible and Clarke will play in the consolation game today at noon.
GRACE COLLEGE 88, GRACE BIBLE 66 GB 28 38 – 66 GC 44 44 – 88 Grace Bible – Jared Bradford 1-9 0-0 2, Travis Rader 3-8 0-0 7, Cameron Cramer 3-9 2-2 8, Bernard Smith 4-5 1-2 9, Paul TenHarmsel 2-6 0-0 5, Matt Jensen 1-3 0-0 3, Rod Altidore 5-8 5-7 16, Gabe Hernandez 0-0 0-0 0, Karlion Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, B.J. Van Loo 3-5 0-0 7, Brad Rosenzweig 2-3 0-0 5, Luke McKian 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 25-58 10-13 66. Grace College – Caleb Featherston 4-6 1-2 10, Kyle Fillman 1-4 0-0 2, Dennis Williams 2-3 1-2 5, Logan Irwin 4-10 0-0 10, Niko Read 6-10 1-3 17, John Swanson 0-0 0-0 0, Stephen Halstead 2-4 3-3 8, Eric Miller 1-3 0-0 3, Tre Olive 0-1 0-0 0, Drew Perrin 1-1 2-2 4, Brandon Vanderhegghen 6-9 0-0 14, Chad Hoffer 0-3 0-0 0, Keaton Irwin 0-1 0-0 0, Erik Bowen 3-6 0-0 7, Andrian Makolli 4-4 0-0 8. Totals 34-65 8-12 88. Three-pointers – Grace Bible 6, Grace College 12; Rebounds – Grace Bible 29 (Cramer 5), Grace College 31 (Read 5); Turnovers – Grace Bible 15, Grace College 9; Fouls – Grace Bible 13, Grace College 15; Records: Grace Bible 4-4, Grace College 7-1
