Grace Basketball downs Nelson to end Texas trip
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Grace’s men’s basketball team capped off a perfect Texas road trip with a 95-71 win over Nelson on Tuesday.
The No. 16 Lancers (11-3) won their fourth straight game, using a fast-paced offense and stingy defense to tame the Lions.
Ian Scott flirted with a quadruple-double; he amassed 23 points (9 of 11 shooting), adding 7 assists, 7 steals, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in a dominant evening.
Grace led from start to finish, outscoring the Lions by double figures in both halves.
The Lancers began the game with 3-pointers from Brycen Graber and Brett Sickafoose.
Two minutes later, Scott scored five points in a row to stretch Grace’s lead to 14-4. Ian Raasch followed up with an and-1 to push Grace ahead by 13.
The Lancers seemed to score at will against the Lions. Grace led by as many as 18 after another triple from Graber handed the Lancers a 47-29 lead with 3:34 left in the half.
Nelson managed to end the half on a 7-0 spurt, but Grace still sat on top 49-38 at halftime.
Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field in the opening half. Nelson made 67 percent of its 3-pointers, while Grace made 35 percent. But Grace forced Nelson into 12 turnovers while owning just half that amount themselves (6).
After five minutes of play in the second half, Grace still found itself in front by 11. But a 3-minute stretch seemed to seal the win for Grace.
The Lancers used a 10-0 run to open up a 22-point cushion. Carter Stoltzfus had four points during the run, and Raasch bookended the spurt with a pair of dunks.
Grace’s largest lead eventually grew to 28 before subbing out the team’s starters with three minutes to play.
The Lancers finished the game shooting 54 percent from the floor; they outrebounded Nelson by seven and had seven fewer turnovers.
Stoltzfus finished the game with 14 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds, Raasch had 14 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds, and Sickafoose tallied 11 points, 3 boards and 2 steals.
Gage Sefton had 10 points with three rebounds, Graber collected 6 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, Justin DeGraaf added seven points and five boards, and Hunter Walston produced 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot.
The Lancers will take a few weeks off before returning to play in January. Grace’s next game is at home on Jan. 4 against Goshen. The men’s game will tip off at 3 p.m. after the conclusion of the women’s matchup.
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