Lancers erupt in second half to rout Goshen
GOSHEN, Ind. – Grace’s men’s basketball team ran its undefeated start to 15 straight thanks to a 108-78 win over Goshen on Saturday.
The No. 1 Lancers had to fend off the pesky Maple Leafs. Grace led by four points at halftime, but the visitors outscored Goshen 63-37 after halftime to secure the win.
Grace (15-0, 5-0 Crossroads League) maintained their position atop the conference standings. Grace welcomes Huntington on Wednesday to the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center for another high-profile matchup. It will be the first meeting between the teams since last year’s memorable CL Tournament championship. The women will tip off at 5:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:30 p.m.
The Lancers put six players in double-digit scoring, led by 22 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks by Elijah Malone.
Grace wasted little time grabbing a comfortable lead against Goshen. The Lancers quickly doubled up the Maple Leafs 20-10. Malone had seven points during the early portions, and Jakob Gibbs had six more.
Ian Scott came off the bench to score four points in quick succession, lifting Grace to a seemingly comfortable 31-14 lead.
Grace had a number of highlight plays in the half, including a flying one-handed dunk from Scott on a fastbreak, and an accidental 3-pointer from Malone, who made a lob pass go directly through the hoop.
But Goshen was undaunted by the sizable deficit. The Maple Leafs slowly ate away at Grace’s lead. A trio of 3-pointers propelled Goshen to a 24-10 run.
Grace walked into halftime with a slight 45-41 lead. The Lancers shot 49 percent from the floor compared to 44 percent for Goshen.
Goshen buried a triple on the first possession of the second half to cut Grace’s lead down to one. But the rest of the half belonged to the Lancers.
Malone and Jake Wadding combined for Grace’s first eight points as the Lancers began to find their rhythm.
Cade Gibbs followed that up with 10 points in a four-minute span, expanding Grace’s lead to 67-53.
Grace was far from finished. Gage Sefton gave Grace a boost off the bench, scoring five points with an and-1. At the midway mark of the half, Grace had opened up a 22-point lead.
Five minutes later, Sefton scored five more unanswered points. His last 3-pointer pushed Grace ahead 98-68 with 4:12 remaining.
The Lancers coasted until the final buzzer, winning the game by 30.
Grace shot 58 percent from the floor as a team, including 46 percent from beyond the arc. The Maple Leafs were held to 41 percent shooting. Grace also outrebounded Goshen 43 to 28.
Cade Gibbs had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 1 blocked shot, and Sefton had 14 points in 17 minutes off the bench.
Jakob Gibbs tallied 13 points on 4 of 5 shooting, Ian Scott shot 4 of 4 while amassing 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist, and Wadding piled in 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block.
Brycen Graber flirted with a triple-double, tallying 7 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds, Ian Raasch had eight points with four boards, and Carter Stoltzfus finished with 3 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds.
During Grace’s 15-game win streak to start the year, the Lancers are outscoring their opponents by 27.9 points per game.
Grace leads the country in assists per game (22.5), is second in field goal percentage (53.5), second in opponents’ field goal percentage (37.9) and third in points per game (94.4).
Grace is enjoying its best start to a season in program history.