No. 8 Grace muscles to win in season debut
WINONA LAKE, Ind. – A balanced effort led Grace’s men’s basketball team to a season-opening win on Friday night.
The No. 8 Lancers defeated Northwestern Ohio 92-84. Grace had four players score at least 16 points.
Grace overcame a poor 3-point shooting game (16 percent) with physical interior play. The Lancers finished the game by shooting 50 percent from the floor and scored 56 points in the paint.
Grace’s offense was slow to begin the game. The Racers scored the first six points of the game, and Grace trailed early 8-2.
But the Lancers soon jolted to life with four quick points from both Gage Sefton and Ian Raasch. Grace charged ahead 12-10.
Raasch was a force early with five more points on back-to-back possessions, but the Racers kept the score close and tied the game at 27s.
The rest of the half remained close, but Grace closed out the half with a flurry from Brett Sickafoose. The senior guard canned a 3-pointer with a minute remaining, and he added a last-second layup, just beating the final horn.
Grace ran into the intermission with a 43-34 lead. The Lancers shot just 2 of 14 (14 percent) on 3-pointers in the half but made 15 of 19 on 2-point attempts.
Sickafoose, who scored 12 first-half points, scored Grace’s first basket of the second half as Grace opened up a double-digit lead.
The Lancers lead hovered around 12 for the next several minutes. Back-to-back hoops from freshman Hunter Walston pushed Grace’s cushion to 16 at 67-51.
But after a timeout, UNOH quickly chopped the deficit to nine. The Racers refused to fade any further and stayed within striking distance.
With 3:30 to play, the Racers ripped off seven straight points to slash Grace’s lead down to 80-76.
Brycen Graber provided a much-needed score on the next possession, drilling a 3-pointer to stop UNOH’s momentum.
Free throws down the stretch from Carter Stoltzfus, Sefton and Raasch put the game out of reach as Grace won by eight.
Raasch led Grace in scoring, tallying 18 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.
Ian Scott piled up 17 points, 10 boards and 5 assists, and Sefton tallied 17 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Sickafoose had 16 points with four rebounds, Brycen Graber had four assists with three points, and Carter Stoltzfus collected five points with three assists.
Justin DeGraaf finished with eight points and six rebounds in his Lancer debut, Walston provided eight points with three boards, and Cannen Houser passed out a pair of assists.
Grace will wrap up its Lancer Tipoff Classic on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Rio Grande.