WINONA LAKE - Grace College men's basketball coach Jim Kessler describes David Swanson as a player coming into his own.
Kessler has certainly taken notice of how well the 6-foot-6 junior forward from Warsaw, Ohio, has played for the Lancers. The teams on Grace's schedule might want to take note as well.Swanson was 8 of 9 from the field Tuesday night, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Lancers beat the IUSB Titans 83-69 at the Orthopaedic Capital Center.
Swanson also dished out two assists and blocked one shot.
"He's really coming into his own," Kessler said of Swanson, who scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the first half. "He really played well in the (NAIA national) tournament last year and it's carried over. I knew he'd be good, but I didn't know he'd be this good."
The 14-point win improved the Lancers to 5-1 on the season, while IUSB lost its fifth-straight game and fell to 2-5.
With Kessler having to replace four-year starters Marcus Moore, Scott Moore and Kyle Johnson from last year's team that finished 26-10 and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NAIA Division II National Tournament, Swanson's play has been a big part of the Lancers' early-season success.
Grace also got 13 points from senior guard Michael Wienhorst, a Warsaw Community High School graduate, while 6-10 senior center Eric Gaff chipped in with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
Starting guards David Henry and Kyle Plumlee finished with seven and two points, respectively.
Just as Swanson's play has been impressive, so were the contributions Grace got from its bench players.
Sophomore Jacob Peattie and freshman Derek Johnson scored nine points each off the bench for the Lancers, while freshman Dayton Merrell chipped in with six points, sophomore Abe Kane scored four points and sophomore Stephen Kaufman finished with two points.
"I used every body tonight," said Kessler. "I'm not going to just pound a team when I can get all the kids in the game. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of players."
The Lancers led 41-26 at halftime and led by as much as 24 in the second half.
Ben Werner led IUSB with a game-high 22 points, finishing the game 10 of 12 from the field. He also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
Mark Comparano chipped in with 14 points, while Quentin Brooks added 10 points and Dan Kundee and Tyler Leighton scored eight points each.
Freshman Shane Salyer, a Tippecanoe Valley graduate, came off the bench and scored two points for the Titans.
The Lancers are in action again Saturday at Cornerstone.
Grace will then open Mid-Central Conference play Tuesday at the OCC against the second-ranked Bethel College Pilots.
"In some ways, it's bigger for Bethel than it is us," Kessler said of his team's upcoming game with the rival Pilots. "For Bethel to win the conference, they've got to beat teams like Grace on the road. The game could be important to whoever wins the conference championship."
