Lancers battle to road victory
WINONA LAKE, Ind. – Grace’s men’s basketball team registered a critical road win late in the season on Saturday.
The Lancers downed Taylor 80-74 to remain in a tie for fourth place in the Crossroads League standings.
Grace put five players in double-digit scoring, led by 20 points from Frankie Davidson.
Taylor scored the first five points of the game. The Trojans (9-18, 5-11 CL) continued their hot shooting early, grabbing a 13-5 lead.
Taylor made a trio of 3-pointers in the first six minutes to snag a nine-point edge.
The teams battled fiercely in the first half with the Trojans remaining in front for nearly the whole half.
Grace made a push with six minutes left in the half. Ian Scott scored a pair of close-range shots, and Cade Gibs buried a triple to tie the game at 27-27.
Taylor responded with six unanswered points, but the Lancers (21-7, 10-6 CL) countered with a big run of their own.
Grace began to flex its muscles in the paint, scoring on a variety of drives to the hoops. Grace ended the half on a 13-4 charge, and a layup by Eddie Gill IV in the waning seconds gave the Lancers a 40-37 lead at halftime.
The Lancers finished the half shooting 55 percent from the floor. Taylor cooled off after the fast start to shoot 48 percent. Grace made just 1 of 6 on 3-pointers and 3 of 6 on free throws.
The Lancers had a plus-eight advantage in rebounds, scoring eight second-chance points. Grace overall had a 28-8 edge in points in the paint.
Grace picked up right where it left off to begin the second half. Jake Wadding scored the first five points of the second half, and Davidson and Eddie Gill IV followed up with scores to push the Lancers’ lead to 49-37.
The Trojans battled back, pulling to within six at 64-58 with 8:30 on the clock. Brycen Graber responded with a high-arching floater to stop Taylor’s mini-run.
Taylor again cut Grace’s lead down to six with 4:35 remaining. Another hoop trimmed Grace’s margin to four with less than four minutes to play.
With 2:20 left, Scott converted a putback layup to give Grace breathing room. After a strong defensive stop, Grace raced down the floor, and Davidson made a clever pass to Scott for an emphatic dunk which pushed Grace’s lead to seven.
Taylor made Grace sweat, scoring four points in the final minute to pull within three. But Grace made two defensive stops down the stretch and added three free throws to ice the win.
Grace scored 52 points in the paint compared to 20 for Taylor; the Lancers also grabbed 17 more rebounds than the Trojans (42-25).
Grace finished the game shooting 52 percent from the floor, 20 percent on 3-pointers (2 of 10) and 63 percent on free throws (12 of 19). Taylor shot 42 percent (field goals), 42 percent (3s) and 100 percent (free throws) in comparison.
Davidson shot 10 of 15 for his 20 points, adding 6 rebounds, 4 assists and just 1 turnover. Wadding had 11 points, 6 boards and 2 assists, and Cade Gibbs added 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.
Scott produced 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, and Eddie Gill IV had 10 points, 5 assists and 2 steals.
Brycen Graber finished with four assists and four points, and Elijah Malone added seven points and eight boards.
The Lancers will end the regular season next week. Grace travels to Spring Arbor on Tuesday at 7 p.m., ending the week at home against Huntington on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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