WINONA LAKE - After Tuesday evening's men's basketball game against the ninth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats, Jim Kessler's message to his team was simple.
All the veteran Grace College Lancers coach wrote on the board outside the locker room was "40 minutes."Kessler said his team, which moved up five spots to 16th in the latest NAIA Division II national poll, played well for about eight minutes, and as a result Grace's four-game winning streak came to a screeching halt in 79-67 loss at the Orthopaedic Capital Center.
"We just didn't show up," said Kessler, whose team beat then-No. 5 and defending national champion St. Francis 85-80 in Fort Wayne Saturday. "We got out-played, out-hustled. You can analyze it, but it's simple, we just didn't show up. We played well for about eight minutes."
That eight-minute stretch came in the second half, as the host Lancers trimmed Indiana Wesleyan's 18-point lead to five.
Outside of that second-half spurt, the Wildcats had their way with Grace.
"I wish I knew why," Kessler said when asked why his team looked so different from its recent win at St. Francis. "We were a no-show. We made a run in the second half and had a chance, but other than that, we didn't show up."
The 12-point loss dropped the Lancers to 14-7 overall and 5-3 in the Mid-Central Conference, while the Wildcats improved to 19-3 overall and 8-0 in MCC play.
Indiana Wesleyan has now won a school-record 16 straight games, while Grace entered Tuesday's game with a 9-0 home record.
The Wildcats lead the MCC standings, followed by St. Francis (6-2), Grace (5-3), Huntington (4-4), Marian (3-5), Bethel (3-5), Spring Arbor (3-5), Taylor (3-5) and Goshen (1-7).
Indiana Wesleyan held a 37-29 advantage over the Lancers at halftime and extended its lead to 58-40 with 11:20 remaining in the game.
The Lancers cut the deficit to five points twice, 65-60 and 66-61, but the Wildcats pulled away again down the stretch.
Grace finished the game 19 of 46 from the field overall and were hampered by 24 turnovers, while the Wildcats were 29 of 60 from the field and committed 13 turnovers.
"We had 11 more turnovers than them, and they had three more offensive rebounds than us," said Kessler. "You can't give a team that many extra chances. We took a step back tonight. They're the No. 9 team in the country and they're good, but we looked like we looked back in December. We just didn't show up."
Four players scored in double figures for the Wildcats, led by Jordan Weidner's 17 points.
Aaron Martin scored 16 points in the win, while George Jones IV chipped in with 12 points and Patrick Hopkins added 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Wildcats outscored Grace 34-18 in the paint.
Kessler said post play has been the heart and soul of the Lancers, but that wasn't the case Tuesday.
Guards Bruce Grimm Jr. and David Henry led the Lancers in scoring with 28 and 10 points, respectively. Grimm also added seven rebounds and five assists.
Six-foot-10 junior Duke Johnson scored nine points for the Lancers and was just 2 of 7 from the field.
Dayton Merrell and Tannan Peters scored five points each for Grace, but were a combined 3 of 11 from the field.
Outside of Grimm and Henry, the Lancers were just 8 of 26 from the field.
Grace is in action again Saturday at Roosevelt University, followed by an MCC contest Tuesday at rival Bethel.
The Lancers return to the OCC Jan. 29 for a conference clash with Marian.
INDIANA WESLEYAN 79, GRACE COLL. 67
IW 37 42 - 79
GC 29 38 - 67
IWU - George Jones 6-10 0-0 12, Derrick Troyer 2-6 3-4 7, Aaron Martin 5-8 3-5 16, Patrick Hopkins 4-10 2-9 10, Will Hubertz 3-7 0-2 9, Jeff Hoskins 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Williams 4-6 0-0 8, David Peters 0-2 0-0 0, Sebastian Weber 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Weidner 5-11 7-11 17. Totals 29-60 15-31 79.
GC - Dayton Merrell 1-7 2-2 5, Tannan Peters 2-4 1-1 5, Duke Johnson 2-7 5-6 9, David Henry 3-5 2-2 10, Bruce Grimm Jr. 8-15 9-11 28, Jacob Peattie 1-1 0-0 2, Elliot Smith 1-3 1-2 4, Greg Miller 1-3 2-2 4, Dennis Williams 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 19-46 22-27 67.
