Lancers Too Much For TrailblazersWINONA LAKE – The upperclassmen did their thing. So did the highly-touted younger players.
The blend of experience and youth that Grace College men’s basketball coach Jim Kessler has been excited about was on full display Monday night at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.
In a 90-66 non-conference win over the Ohio Christian University Trailblazers, the Lancers saw five players score in double figures, while sophomore point guard Braxton Linville dished out nine assists.
Freshman Matt Jennings, the former Logansport High School standout and Class 4A All-State player, led the way with a game-high 20 points off the bench.
Jennings’ performance, which included 10 points in each half, came on the heels of a 23-point effort in Saturday’s win over Governors State University.
“I think he relaxed and let the game come to him,” Kessler, whose Lancers improved to 3-1 on the season with their third straight win, said of Jennings.
“That what I said to him, I told him ‘you’ve got the tools, just go out and play hard on the defensive end, move, and let the game come to you. Instincts just take over at that point. You don’t have to choose anything, just let it come to you.’ I thought he did a good job of that tonight.”
Senior Stephen Halstead, who scored 11 of the Lancers’ first 13 points, made five treys in the win and finished with 19 points.
Junior Logan Godfrey tallied 16 points and 13 rebounds, while senior Erik Bowen added 15 points and 11 boards.
Freshman Haden Deaton, a Class 4A All-State player from McCutcheon High School, contributed 13 points and seven rebounds.
Redshirt freshman Martin Schiele scored five points, using some nifty moves in the paint to score a highlight reel up-and-under basket.
Linville, the former NorthWood High School standout, scored two points to go with his nine assists, and has dished out 19 assists in the last two games.
“That blend has been superb to this point, young players, older players. I was pleased with that,” said Kessler, who notched the 761st win of his NAIA Hall of Fame career.
“Braxton had 10 assists in the last game, this game he had nine. He’s finding people. We had 17 assists on 30 field goals. Over half of our field goals were assisted. That’s a good measure that we’ve got some good shooters and guys who like to score, but also that they’re sharing the ball. That makes it difficult to defend when you can do that.”
The teams were tied at 28 with 4:44 remaining in the first half, and then Grace closed the opening 20-minute period with a 14-6 spurt.
The Lancers outscored Ohio Christian 48-32 in the second half.
“I was really pleased with some of the things we did in the second half,” said Kessler. “We made some adjustments at halftime.
“We refused the ball screens and pushed them down. I was pleased that the guys were able to make those defensive adjustments that a mature team can do.
“The most insignificant or unimportant statistic is the halftime score. If you can get your heads together and make some adjustments, which we did, you’re in good shape. As much as we were pitiful defensively in our first game, I think we’re beginning to buy into that maybe we need to defend in order to make things happen.”
Grace outrebounded the Trailblazers 45-30 and converted 21 of 24 free throw attempts.
The Lancers have made 48 of 53 charity tosses in the last two games.
Thomas Woods led Ohio Christian with 19 points, while Jalen Hearn and John Johnson chipped in with 18 and 10 points, respectively.
The Trailblazers fell to 1-3 on the season with their third straight loss.
Grace will be in action again this weekend with a pair of games in Michigan. The Lancers will play 21st-ranked Rochester College Friday and Madonna University Saturday.
