WINONA LAKE - One of the strengths of Grace College's men's basketball team is its depth.
That was evident Tuesday evening, as the Lancers, ranked 19th in the latest NAIA Division II national poll, beat the Manchester College Spartans 78-58 at the Orthopaedic Capital Center.Despite the absence of 6-foot-11 junior Duke Johnson, the team's leading scorer and rebounder who injured his ankle in Saturday's loss at Marian, the Lancers never trailed and led by as many as 33 points in the second half.
"When Duke got hurt at Marian, we kind of fragmented," said Grace coach Jim Kessler. "Tonight we played together, and we beat a good team. We have good depth. We've got a lot of weapons in the closet, and tonight was a chance for some other players to show it."
With the 20-point win, Grace improved to 8-2 on the season, while Manchester fell to 3-3.
Junior Dayton Merrell and sophomore Bruce Grimm Jr. scored 14 points each for the Lancers, while sophomore Lee Ross added 11 points, sophomore Elliot Smith scored nine points and junior Jacob Peattie chipped in with eight points.
Merrell scored 11 of Grace's first 13 points, as the Lancers raced out to a 13-4 lead and led 44-24 at halftime.
"Our scoring was really distributed among a lot of people," said Kessler. "Dayton got us off to a great start. We had three people score in double figures, I'm happy with that. I think we caught Manchester on a downswing. They're a better team than that. They're a good team, they just didn't shoot well against us."
The Spartans finished the game 21 of 51 (41 percent) from the field overall, 2 of 15 from three-point range, and 14 of 26 at the free throw line.
Grace was 28 of 65 (43 percent) from the field overall, 6 of 17 behind the arc, and 16 of 24 at the charity stripe.
A three-pointer by Smith midway through the first half gave the Lancers their first double-digit lead of the game at 18-8. A pair of treys from Ross and other from Grimm helped push Grace's advantage to 38-22.
After leading by 20 points at halftime, the Lancers built their advantage to as much as 33 points, 74-41, in the second half.
With the game already well out of reach, Manchester finished the contest with a 17-4 run.
Senior Tyler Delauder led the Spartans with a game-high 19 points, while senior Nathan Ferch added 10 points and was the only other Manchester player in double figures.
The Lancers will be back in action Saturday when they host IU-Northwest at 4 p.m.
Johnson is expected to miss two weeks after spraining his ankle and only playing nine minutes at Marian.
Dennis Williams, a 6-11 freshman from Jamaica, started in Johnson's absence and finished with six points, six rebounds and four blocks.
Greg Miller, a 6-6 freshman, came off the bench and tallied six points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.
GRACE 78, MANCHESTER 58
M 24 34 - 58
G 44 34 - 78
Manchester - Jordan Moss 209 0-0 6, Peter Krill 0-0 0-0 0, Joel Sovine 3-5 0-0 7, Nathan Ferch 4-8 2-5 10, Mitch Schaefer 2-8 2-8 6, Matt Ritchie 0-0 0-0 0, Colin Witte 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Sirk 0-0 2-2 2, Tyler Henn 2-4 0-0 4, Tyler Delauder 6-9 6-6 19, Patrick Spence 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Hartsel 1-1 1-2 3, Jason Spindler 0-6 0-1 0. Totals 21-51 14-26 58.
Grace - Dayton Merrell 5-10 3-5 14, Tannan Peters 2-4 0-0 4, Dennis Williams 3-4 0-4 6, David Henry 0-5 2-2 2, Bruce Grimm Jr. 5-11 3-4 14, Lee Ross 3-3 3-4 11, Michael Humphrey 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Peattie 2-8 2-2 8, Elliot Smith 3-5 1-1 9, Jacob Goodman 0-1 0-0 0, Morgan Michalski 1-2 0-0 2, Benjamin Euler 0-1 2-2 2, Greg Miller 3-7 0-0 6, Andrew Hartje 0-0 0-0 0, Jay Hinkel 0-1 0-0 0, Jared Treadway 0-3 0-0 0, Nathan VanDuyne 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-65 16-24 78.
Three-point goals - Manchester 2 (Sovine, Delauder), Grace 6 (Ross 2, Smith 2, Merrell, Grimm). Rebounds - Manchester 34 (Moss 8), Grace 34 (Williams 6, Grimm 6). Turnovers - Manchester 25, Grace 22. Fouls - Manchester 18, Grace 25. Fouled out - Smith. Records: Manchester 3-3, Grace 8-2
