THREE-PEAT: Grace wins third straight CL Tourney title
WINONA LAKE, Ind. – No net is safe around Grace’s men’s basketball team.
The No. 1 Lancers trounced No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan 101-80 to win the Crossroads League Tournament championship.
The win improved Grace’s record to 30-1 as they head toward next week’s NAIA National Championships.
Grace has now won three-straight conference tournament titles under head coach Scott Moore. And they did so in emphatic fashion on Tuesday night.
Grace led by as many as 31 points, using an unstoppable offense to dismantle the Wildcats (26-5).
The Lancers put five players in double figures and shot 63 percent from the floor, 50 percent on 3s and 79 percent from the foul line.
Grace outrebounded IWU 37-19 and had 23 assists on 35 made field goals.
The teams played evenly for the first five minutes of the contest. The rest of the game belonged to the Lancers.
With the score even at 9-9, Grace unleashed a 12-2 run to take control. Carter Stoltzfus hit a 3-pointer, Elijah Malone scored five points, and Jake Wadding added four to push the lead to 21-11.
Midway through the half, Grace stunned the Wildcats with another furious run. Over the span of 2:22, the Lancers erupted with 16 more points.
Grace canned four 3-pointers during the spree, including a pair from Brett Sickafoose. Malone added six points of his own. Sickafoose’s second triple gave Grace a 40-20 lead with 8:28 left in the half.
But Grace wasn’t finished. The Lancers scored 13 unanswered points over a four-minute stretch with 12 of those points coming from Cade Gibbs and Ian Scott.
With 2:44 remaining in the first half, Grace held a commanding 58-27 cushion.
Grace charged into halftime with a 62-34 lead. The Lancers shot 64 percent from the floor and made half of their 3s (8 of 16). The Wildcats were muted to 37 percent shooting and had three players with three fouls.
During its best stretch of the half, Grace outscored IWU 49-18.
The Wildcats did their best to muster a response in the second half, but Grace’s cushion was too much to overcome.
Grace never let its lead get below 20 points for the entirety of the second half.
Cade Gibbs buried 3s on consecutive possessions early in the half to keep momentum on Grace’s side.
A minute later, Wadding and Malone threw down dunks on back-to-back plays.
Grace had several highlight reel plays in the second half. Scott made a 3-pointer, then drove the lane two minutes later and threw down a monstrous one-handed jam.
With three minutes to play, Brycen Graber tossed a pinpoint perfect lob pass to Malone, who finished the alley-oop with his trademark rim-rattling dunk.
Freshman Ian Raasch pushed Grace past the century mark with a driving layup, and Grace celebrated its way to a 101-80 win.
The Lancers ended the day by cutting down their home nets, a fitting end to a dominant conference run in 2023-24. Grace went 20-1 against Crossroads League opponents this year.
Grace has now won the past five trophies from the conference, including two consecutive regular season titles and three straight tournament championships.
Malone enjoyed 25 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists in just 27 minutes of action.
Cade Gibbs battled his way to 21 points, 8 boards and 3 assists, all while playing stout defense against IWU’s perimeter players.
Jake Wadding had 13 points, 5 boards and 2 blocks, and Scott had 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Sickafoose scored 10 points with a trio of 3s, and Stoltzfus had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
Graber passed out seven assists with two steals, and Jakob Gibbs had seven points with two assists.
The Lancers will await their opponents for the NAIA tournament, which starts next week. The complete field and bracket will be announced on Thursday evening.
Grace has already secured itself as a host site for the NAIA First and Second Round. The Lancers will host two First Round games on Friday (March 15) with the winners playing in the Second Round on Saturday (March 16). Grace will play at 6 p.m. in the opener on Friday. The Second Round will start at 6 p.m. as well.