MISHAWAKA - The only thing tougher than the Grace College Lancers' attempt to get a win at Bethel College Tuesday was their fans' 50-mile trip home under Winter Storm Advisory conditions.
While making the trek back from Mishawaka, Grace fans could only mull over what went wrong in a 73-46 Mid-Central Conference Tournament championship game loss.The game was the 113th meeting between the two squads, with Bethel now holding 57-56 advantage in the series.
"They just beat us at every part of the game," Grace coach Jim Kessler said. "My hat's off to them. They're conference champions."
The Bethel Pilots are conference champions with a 12-4 MCC mark, a year after finishing 6-10 in conference action and two years removed from a 1-15 conference showing.
"Our kids played really solid on both ends of the floor," Bethel coach Mike Lightfoot said. "We were able to get some good matchups that we needed to get against a very good Grace team."
The biggest matchup problem for Kessler's guys was Bethel's 6-foot-6 William Walker. The junior finished the game with 12 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and four steals.
"William is an All-American player," Lightfoot said. "I think he's the best player in our conference, but of course he came out as runner-up (behind Huntington's Doug Sheckler). He played injured tonight, and still got a lot of things done for us."
Making the Walker matchup even more difficult to bear was Tyler Brown going for 16 points and nine rebounds and Ryne Lightfoot chipping in 11 points for the Pilots. The Lancers were lead by David Swanson's 12 points, with Eric Gaff scoring 10 and grabbing seven rebounds in the losing effort.
For Bethel, Walker's impact was immediate, hauling in 10 first-half rebounds, helping his team hold a 39-28 advantage on the glass.
"We really tried to concentrate on the boards," Lightfoot said.
"I was really proud of our defensive play," the Bethel coach added. "It's been really strong the last couple of weeks. In order to win any championship, especially a conference championship against a great team, you have to play a tough, outstanding defense."
The defense held Grace to 29 percent shooting on the night, also recordinging 14 steals.
"They came to play," Kessler said of the Pilots. "We shoot 29 percent. We'd come inside, and we'd just dribble it, dribble it off the lane. We just didn't play well."
Inside, it appeared Grace had the height advantage with 6-10 Gaff, 6-8 Kyle Johnson and 6-6 Swanson off the bench. However, the quick-reaction Pilots held the tall Lancer frontline to 10, 3 and 12 points, respectively.
"We felt like we had to contain Kyle Johnson," Lightfoot said of his defense which held Johnson to three points on 0-for-7 field goal shooting. "That was really a focus we had talked about. He hurt us in the last game (scoring 19 points) on perimeter shots. He's so good in big games, that we felt if we could contain him, we'd have a good shot at winning this ballgame."
Despite not playing their best basketball, the Lancers were right with the Pilots throughout the first half. Down 26-21 with four minutes to play, Grace's grip on the game eventually began to slip, leading to a 32-22 deficit at the half.
"I think there's a turning point in each game, and that was in the first half," Kessler said. "We were within five points or so, and came up empty on five-straight possessions. That was the point of the game that it was decided."
Grace did climb to within 36-29 with 16:44 remaining in the contest following a Marcus Moore three-pointer, but that would be as close as the game would get. After seeing their lead cut to seven, Bethel embarked on an 8-0 run that got the lead to 15. From there, things only got worse for Grace.
The winner of the championship game received an automatic bid to the 32-team NAIA D-II national tournament at The College of the Ozarks in Point Outlook, Mo., near Branson. However, earlier in the day, Grace learned it had also received an at-large bid to the tournament, which didn't make last night's contest a do-or-die scenario for the Lancers' tournament hopes.
"There was still incentive," Kessler said of the Bethel game. "We had come in second in conference and we wanted to at least make a statement. But so did Bethel. Give them credit. We have no excuses. No whining, no complaining - they beat us."
The Lancers will look to regroup before they make the trip to Missouri Sunday, preparing for their first-round game later in the week.
"I think we need to have a makeover," Kessler said. "We're knicked up a little bit. We need to go home and do some soul searching. Hopefully we'll show up a little bit better in Branson than we did here."
BETHEL 73, GRACE 46
(MCC Championship)
G 22 24 - 46
B 32 41 - 73
Grace - Johnson 0-7 3-4 3, Gaff 4-9 2-6 10, S. Moore 1-3 0-0 3, M. Moore 2-4 0-0 5, Wienhorst 0-5 2-2 2, Kaiser 1-4 2, Eakins 0-1 0-0 0, Peatie 0-2 2-2 2, Henry 2-4 2-2 7, Winkleman 0-2 0-2 0, Swanson 4-7 4-5 12. Totals 14-48 15-25 46.
