POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. - The clock finally struck midnight for Grace College's men's basketball team.
The only unseeded team in the final eight of the 17th annual NAIA Divison II National Tournament, the Lancers became the Cinderella story of the 32-team, single-elimination tournament.Their magical run ended Saturday night, though, as Oregon Tech defeated the Lancers 81-70 at Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of College of the Ozarks, located just outside of Branson, Mo.
"It wasn't our best game," said Grace College coach Jim Kessler, whose team ended the season with a 26-10 record. "We just couldn't get shots to fall for us. We didn't execute that well. There's a lot of variables, part of it is that we played a very good team."
Only 16 of the 32 teams in the tournament are seeded, as conference tournament champions receive an automatic bid. The Lancers received an at-large bid to the tournament and made their first appearance since 1993 when they were eliminated in the first round.
Grace advanced to Saturday's quarterfinal round by beating 14th-seeded Embry Riddle 75-65 Thursday night and by knocking off third-seeded Morningside 90-81 in an overtime thriller Friday.
Winning those two games, Grace senior Kyle Johnson said, proved the Lancers belonged in the tournament.
"It was our goal all year to get here," said the 6-foot-8 Johnson, who scored 18 points Thursday, 23 points Friday and a team-high 16 points Saturday. "We didn't want it to end this way, but we proved we belonged here."
Against the Hustlin' Owls Saturday, things didn't go the Lancers' way, as they were just 28 of 70 (40 percent) from the field, including a 5-of-26 performance from three-point range.
Oregon Tech struggled from the arc too, only hitting 4 of 11 three-point attempts, but the Hustlin' Owls were 29 of 55 (53 percent) from the field overall and converted 19 of 27 free throw attempts.
Oregon Tech made more charity tosses than Grace attempted, as the Lancers finished the game 9 of 14 from the free throw line.
"They're a very good team," said 6-10 Grace junior Eric Gaff. "We had some trouble with their length, and when our shots didn't go I think our confidence waivered a little bit."
Five players for Oregon Tech were 6-7 or taller, including senior point guard Ryan Fiegi, who scored a game-high 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
Grace's roster lists three players taller than 6-7, Gaff, Johnson and 6-8 junior Tyler Winkleman.
Johnson led the Lancers with 16 points, while 6-6 sophomore David Swanson gave Grace a huge lift off the bench, putting together a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Gaff scored 14 points, while junior Michael Wienhorst finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
The 11-point win improved Oregon Tech's record to 28-6 and advanced the Hustlin' Owls to today's semifinal round. The championship game is scheduled for Tuesday evening.
In Saturday's other quarterfinal games, top-seeded Bellevue beat No. 9 Bethel 73-69, No. 5 Northwestern beat No. 13 Northwood 96-70 and No. MidAmerica Nazarene beat No. 10 College of the Ozarks 70-58.
Not only was Fiegi, who along with teammates Myles Daley and Brent Johnson are from the same high school as Duke freshman Kyle Singler, the game's leading scorer, he was also the talk of the game.
The fact that Feigi even laced up his shoes and played in the game was impressive, let alone the 23 points and nine rebounds.
In Oregon Tech's first tourmament game, a 77-74 win over Mount Vernon Nazarene, Fiegi suffered an knee injury in which his patella was displaced.
"If he's that good on one leg, I can't image what he'd be like on two legs," Kessler said of Fiegi, who was 9 of 14 from the field overall and 4 of 5 from the charity stripe.
Wetzler added 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Daley scored 10 points.
Oregon Tech held a 30-27 advantage at halftime but was able to pull away in the second half, building a 55-40 lead with 11:05 remaining.
The Lancers cut the lead to eight, 71-63, with 2:21 to play, but the Hustlin Owls scored the next four points to stretch the margin again.
The Lancers will lose four players from this year's tournament team, seniors Marcus and Scott Moore, who led Columbia City High School to the state title game in 2004 and Johnson, who was a state champion at Jimtown High School. Junior Tyler Winkleman, of Perrysburg, Ohio, is graduating early and will attend law school.
"We had a great senior class," said Gaff. "We're going to miss Tyler Winkleman, too. They were all great leaders and great people on and off the court. We really came together as a family, and it's hard to see them go out with a loss like this."
Marcus Moore scored six points in the loss, while Scott finished with two points.
OREGON TECH 81, GRACE 70
OT 30 51 - 81
G 27 43 - 70
Oregon Tech - Mike Nierath 2 0-0 7, Jguwon Hogges 2 2-4 7, Ryan Feigi 9 4-5 23, Josh Wetzler 5 4-6 14, Christian Cavanaugh 2 1-2 5, Nate Lewis 0 1-2 1, Ryan Beesley 4 0-0 9, Myles Daley 4 2-2 10, Brent Johnson 0 4-4 4. Totals 29 19-27 81.
Grace - Kyle Johnson 7 0-1 16, Michael Wienhorst 3 2-3 10, Eric Gaff 5 3-4 13, Scott Moore 1 0-0 2, Marcus Moore 2 1-2 6, Austin Kaiser 4 1-2 9, David Henry 0 0-0 0, Tyler Winkleman 0 0-0 0, David Swanson 6 2-2 14. Totals 29 9-14 70.
