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02.24.07
- It was déjà vu for
Grace College. The Lancers (20-11) had Huntington University (28-4)
on the ropes, but then watched another upset bid slip through their
fingers when Huntington University’s Kyle Benge nailed a three-pointer
at the buzzer to push the game to a second overtime. Benge hit the
same shot back on January 16 at Grace to extend the game to an extra
period and the outcome was the same. The Foresters took advantage of
their new life and beat Grace 89-85 this time to earn a spot in
Tuesday night’s Championship Game of the MCC Tournament.
The Foresters looked
to have things under control early as they ran out to a 10-2 lead a
little over three minutes into the contest. Grace then stepped up its
defense and began to claw its way back into the game. The Lancers
took advantage of several missed shots and a handful of Huntington
turnovers to take a 17-15 lead midway through the half. After trading
baskets for the next few minutes, the Foresters finally got some
breathing room with a 7-2 run down the stretch to take a 34-29 lead at
the break.
Early in the second half, Grace fought back and took a 40-38 lead on
an Eric Gaff lay-up at the 15:41 mark and the seesaw battle began.
With neither team shooting the ball well, no one could generate
momentum. The score was still tied at 54-54 with just under five
minutes to play when Huntington got lay-ups from Alex Kock and Doug
Sheckler to go up 58-54. Grace’s Marcus Moore trimmed it to two on a
lay-up and then stole the ball from Kock. Michael Wienhorst was
fouled on the possession and knocked down both charity tosses to tie
it at 58-58 with 1:50 left. Both teams got decent looks down the
stretch, but regulation ended on a missed three-pointer by Grace’s
Moore.
After Eric Gaff and Sheckler traded field goals to start the overtime
period, the Lancers’ Kyle Johnson took over. He scored the next 10
points for Grace and single handedly gave the Lancers a 68-63 lead
with 1:20 on the clock. On Huntington’s next possession, Kyle Ganton
drove the lane and was fouled by Eric Gaff. Ganton missed the first
free throw, but then the officials realized that the foul had been
Gaff’s fifth and he hadn’t been replaced in the lineup, so Ganton got
to shoot the shot again. This time he knocked down both.
Johnson’s fourth field goal of the period pushed the margin back to
five with 37 seconds left. Jared Yoder pushed the ball up and
immediately scored a lay-up to make it 70-67 with 31 ticks remaining.
Following a Huntington timeout, Yoder came up with a steal off the
press and fed Kock for a lay-up to cut it to 70-69. The Foresters
then fouled Wienhorst sending him to the line with 14 seconds on the
clock. He drained both shots to make it 72-69. Grace called a
timeout to set up its defense, which allowed Huntington time to get
organized for their final shot.
The ball was inbounded to Yoder. He brought the ball up and drove
right off a Kock pick, but Yoder was trapped and couldn’t get the ball
back to Kock on the roll. Benge, who had been inserted into the
lineup seconds before when Sheckler fouled out on the Wienhorst foul,
came to the rescue. He faked the three then took a dribble right and
launched it. The ball spun around inside the cylinder and then fell
through as the buzzer sounded.
This time the Foresters’ dynamic duo took over and carried Huntington
to the win. Kock and Ganton combined for 15 of the Foresters’ 17
points in the period. After opening with a 6-0 run, a Kock free throw
at the 2:22 mark gave Huntington an 81-74 lead, and a minute later,
two more from Kock made it 85-77. Back-to-back treys from Wienhorst
and Scott Moore in the final minute cut it to 87-85 with seven seconds
left, but Ganton sealed the win with two more at the line. Kock then
made sure by stealing the long inbound pass and then dribbling out the
clock.
Grace’s Johnson topped all scorers in the game with 30 and Marcus
Moore added 25. Gaff finished with a double-double with 11 points and
12 rebounds. Both Kock and Ganton posted their own double-doubles for
Huntington. Kock had 27 points and 17 boards while Ganton chipped in
24 points and 11 rebounds. Sheckler, Yoder and Benge also scored in
double figures with 14, 13 and 10 points respectively. The Foresters
out-rebounded Grace 56-45, but committed 20 turnovers to 14 for the
Lancers. Huntington shot 44% for the game and finished 25-32 at the
line for 78%. The Lancers shot 39% from the field and 59% (10-17)
from the stripe.
With the win, the top-seeded Foresters will host #2-seed Indiana
Wesleyan, a 79-73 semi-final winner over St. Francis, in the
Championship Game of the MCC Tournament on Tuesday, February 27 at
7:00 p.m.
Box Score
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