Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - The term "in the zone" is often over-used when describing a great game by a player.
But Tuesday night Grace College sophomore Marcus Moore was most definitely "in the zone" as he was a scorching 13 of 18 from the field and 3 of 5 from behind the arc in a career-high 35-point performance that gave the Lancers a 97-85 win over Bethel in Grace's home and Mid-Central Conference opener.
"We were smart enough to get him the ball tonight," said Grace head coach Jim Kessler.
The Lancers were unselfish as they ended the evening with 22 assists on 36 field goals.
Grace found itself down by 13 early in the first half to the Pilots.
Then as Moore began to find his stroke from the field, so did the rest of the Lancers.
Scott Moore, Marcus' twin brother, hit a big three-pointer to draw Grace within two points at 35-33. He followed it up with another trifecta after a Bethel free throw to even the contest up at 36-all.
Grace then withstood a quick 7-2 run by Bethel, only to answer with a three-pointer by senior guard Ben Snyder.
The Lancers snatched the momentum permanently with 3.5 seconds left in the half when senior Jeff Hamstra executed a Princeton-esque backdoor play to perfection as he found Scott Moore streaking to the basket.
Moore connected on the layup and the ensuing free throw after he drew contact on the play.
Marcus Moore took his only sustained respite on the bench with 16:12 left in the game. During that time Grace was able to extend its lead on a three-pointer by 2005 Warsaw grad Michael Wienhorst.
Wienhorst was the most productive of the three local players to see action Tuesday night. Wienhorst finished with five points on 2-of-4 shooting and two rebounds.
Austin Kaiser, a 2005 Wawasee graduate and last year's Times-Union co-Area Player Of the Year with Wienhorst, saw limited action off the Grace bench.
Kaiser's former teammate Kory Lantz scored two points and had an assist in 28 minutes of action.
If Wienhorst's three provided a spark for Grace, then two three-pointers by Hamstra nearly set Lancer Gym ablaze.
Hamstra drained two three-pointers from 27 feet out that whipped the capacity crowd into frenzy and extended the Lancer lead to 68-56.
Hamstra finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.
Bethel began to chip away at Grace's lead as Pilots leading scorer Kyle Sears found his game.
Sears, who is listed at 6-foot-5 but plays as if he's 6-10, started to control the paint and forced a smaller, inexperienced and injured Grace frontcourt to foul.
The Lancers are currently without 6-10 Kyle Johnson, who suffered a foot fracture and is out for 4-to-6 weeks.
Taking Johnson's place in the starting lineup Tuesday was freshman Eric Gaff.
While Gaff is 6-10 himself, he had trouble early adjusting to the speed of the likes of Sears and William Walker.
Gaff redeemed himself late when he almost single-handedly squashed a Bethel charge that saw the Pilots get within double digits.
Gaff scored four of his six points down the stretch and also saved a ball from going out of bounds that found its way into the waiting arms of Wienhorst for an easy layup.
"We have a number of guys who can play cerebral," said Kessler. "We had a number of guys come in tonight and give us good minutes. Ben Snyder created assists and Jeff Hamstra had those three-point bombs. Eric Gaff gave us some great minutes, as did Michael Wienhorst."
Scott Moore finished with 17 points and eight assists, while Dave Richmond finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Gaff and Marcus Moore finished with six rebounds each.
The game got off to an odd start as Bethel was awarded two free throws after a technical foul was called when a Grace player dunked during warm-ups, which is against college rules.
Grace moved its record to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in the MCC. The Lancers are in action Friday and Saturday in the Wisconsin-Parkside Tournament.
GRACE 97, BETHEL 85
Bethel 43 42 - 85
Grace 46 51 - 97
Bethel FG FT R S Pts.
*Zeser 2-8 2-5 2 0 7
*Lettinga 3-5 0-0 3 1 9
*Henry 3-10 1-2 3 1 7
*Walker 8-11 1-4 5 0 17
*Sears 6-9 4-5 6 2 16
Maddoz 3-5 0-0 2 1 9
Lightfoot 2-5 0-0 0 0 4
Lantz 0-4 2-4 0 0 2
Jones 3-3 2-2 1 1 8
Schaper 0-1 1-1 0 0 1
Lawver 2-3 1-1 0 1 5
Team 0-0 0-0 4 0 0
Totals 32-64 14-24 26 7 85
Grace FG FT R S Pts.
*Snyder 2-3 6-6 0 1 11
*M. Moore 13-18 6-6 6 1 35
*Richmond 6-9 0-0 5 0 12
*S. Moore 6-8 3-3 1 3 17
*Gaff 3-6 0-0 6 1 6
Ritter 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Winkleman 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Hamstra 4-6 0-0 2 0 11
Wienhorst 2-4 0-0 2 0 5
Team 0-0 0-0 10 0 0
Totals 36-57 15-15 32 6 97
Three-point goals - Bethel 7-22 (Maddoz 3-4, Lettinga 3-5, Zeser 1-4), Grace 10-18 (Snyder 1-2, M. Moore 3-5, S. Moore 2-2, Hamstra 3-4, Wienhorst 1-3). Assists -ÊBethel 16 (Sears 5), Grace 22 (S. Moore 8). Turnovers - Bethel 15, Grace 18. Fouls - Bethel 20, Grace 23 . Fouled out - None.
