WINONA LAKE – University of St. Francis guard Kegan Comer made just one of his three attempts from the arc Wednesday night. The one he made, the final one he took, swished through the net with just over a second remaining in the game, as the 19th-ranked Cougars beat the Grace College Lancers 79-77 in Crossroads League men’s basketball action at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. The Lancers led the majority of the game, but left the court disappointed after falling to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in league play. St. Francis improved to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in the league standings. “I thought (Seth) Small was gonna take it, but Comer is their go-to guy,” said Grace College coach Jim Kessler. “He hadn't shot well to that point, but he's a good player, a good shooter. I said I think they'll ball screen, he'll drive left and pull up and shoot a jump shot. We kind of got in a scramble there, and we lost him. He shot it uncontested. We were switching ball screens and scrambling, and he got free.” Both Comer and Small scored 13 points for the Cougars, while Bryce Lienhoop and Jordan Hahn scored 12 points each. Comer's game-winner came after Logan Irwin hit a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to give Grace a 77-76 advantage. Had the Lancers been able to make their other second-half free throws, they would probably be tied atop the league standings with Marian University and Goshen College. Grace was 20 of 29 from the charity stripe Wednesday, but only 6 of 13 in the second half. “It was people that usually shoot pretty good,” Kessler said of his team's poor shooting performance at the charity stripe. On top of the Lancers’ free throw shooting woes, they played the final four minutes of the game without the inside presence of junior Erik Bowen, who fouled out. Grace’s 6-foot-6 junior had 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half and finished with game-highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. “I’m sure it made a difference,” Kessler said of not Bowen sitting on the bench with five fouls during crunch time. “He got into foul trouble and we had to sit him. There was no reason to sit him late in the game and we put him back in, and he picked up his fifth foul. Kyle Fillman had four fouls. We had to nurse our bigs along all night.” Irwin and Chad Hoffer scored 13 points each for Grace, while Brandon Vanderhegghen and Logan Godfrey chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively. The Lancers turned the ball over just nine times, but St. Francis scored 16 points off those turnovers. Grace led 39-35 at halftime and the Cougars didn’t take their first lead of the second half until Austin Fox’s bucket with 3:13 remaining gave them a 73-72 advantage. With the loss, the Lancers are among six teams that are tied at 1-1 in the 10-team league standings. Grace is back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. at rival Bethel College. “Bethel is coming off a loss,” Kessler said of the Pilots’ 84-79 loss at Taylor University Tuesday. “They’ll be ready.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL WINONA LAKE – A fourth-quarter downfall undid Grace’s women’s basketball team against No. 20 St. Francis on Wednesday. The Lady Lancers (4-6, 0-2 Crossroads League) gave up 31 points in the final quarter in an 82-58 defeat at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. Grace jumped out to an 18-15 lead after the first quarter, thanks in large part to a trio of three-pointers from Kelsie Peterson. The Cougars (4-2, 2-0 CL) used a 13-1 spurt to grab a seven-point advantage midway into the second quarter, and St. Francis never trailed again. Grace trailed by 10 at halftime. The Lady Lancers stayed within striking distance in the third quarter and trailed by just eight points entering the final stanza. St. Francis started the fourth quarter with a 15-2 run, and Grace never recovered. The Cougars built up their lead to 20 and cruised down the stretch. Grace struggled with its shooting touch in defeat, making 26 percent of its field goals in the first half and 34 percent in the second. The Lady Lancers did hold a 31-27 advantage in rebounds as Jesse Feitz pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with eight points. Peterson, Darian Patton and Brooke Sugg each scored 10 points, and Haley Richardson added eight points. Brooke Ridley led St. Francis with a game-high 20 points, while Quila Jackson added 16 and Zhanna Chukhrii and Zhana Randolph chipped in with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Lady Lancers will look to snap a three-game losing streak on Saturday. Grace travels to rival Bethel at 1 p.m. as part of a men’s/women’s doubleheader in Mishawaka.
(MEN) ST. FRANCIS 79, GRACE 77 SF 35 44 – 79 Gra 39 38 – 77 SF – Perry Poindexter 2-4 1-4 5, Bryce Lienhoop 4-7 4-4 12, Kegan Comer 6-11 0-0 13, Evan Henry 2-6 0-1 6, Seth Small 4-7 4-4 13, Nick Lewis 0-2 3-4 3, Connor Umphress 2-3 0-1 6, Billy Doslak 0-2 0-0 0, Alex Pritchett 2-4 0-0 4, Jordan Hahn 4-10 1-2 12, Austin Fox 2-5 1-3 5. 28-61 14-23 79. Grace – Caleb Featherston 3-5 0-0 6, Kyle Fillman 2-5 1-3 5, Erik Bowen 7-14 4-6 18, Logan Irwin 4-14 5-8 13, Brandon Vanderhegghen 3-10 2-4 9, Josh Ruggles 1-2 0-0 3, Stephen Halstead 0-0 0-0 0, Eric Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Tre Olive 0-1 0-0 0, Drew Perrin 1-1 0-0 2, Logan Godfrey 3-4 2-2 8, Chad Hoffer 3-8 6-6 13. Totals 27-64 20-29 77. Three-pointers – SF 9 (Hahn 3, Henry 2, Umphress 2, Comer, Small), Grace 3 (Vanderhegghen, Ruggles, Hoffer); Rebounds – SF 32 (Poindexter 7), Grace 43 (Bowen 12); Turnovers – SF 10, Grace 9; Fouls – SF 25, Grace 25; Fouled out – Bowen.
