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02.23.08 -
In a final regular season battle for second place in the MCC
standings, the
NAIA 25th-ranked Foresters (21-9, 11-5) couldn't hang on to an
11-point second half lead and fell 73-66 to Grace College (22-8,
11-5). Although both teams finish with an 11-5 conference
record, the Lancers will get the second seed in the upcoming MCC
tournament having swept HU in their two meetings.
Grace held a small lead early, but the Foresters used an 11-2 run to
turn a 14-14 tie into a 25-16 lead with 11 minutes gone in the half.
HU was able to maintain that advantage the remainder of the period
until Austin Kaiser hit a three at the half-time buzzer to cut it to
41-34 at intermission.
Things still looked
promising early in the second for the Foresters as they increased
their half-time margin to 11 on a Kevin Kyle field goal with 16:28 on
the clock. Following a Grace timeout, the Lancers stepped up
their defensive intensity and held HU to just two points over the next
eight minutes. By then, Grace had more than made up the double
digit deficit and now owned a 56-51 lead. The Foresters got back
within one on two occasions with the last coming on a Kyle Benge
jumper at the 5:54 mark. The Lancers squelched the rally by scoring
the next six points to give themselves a seven-point cushion with 4:15
to play.
David Lash and Luke
Smith each hit one of two free throws on HU's next two possessions to
cut it to 67-62, but couldn't capitalize on back-to-back Lancer
turnovers to get any closer. Grace then hit 6 of 8 free throws
in the final minute to complete the win.
Smith came off the
bench for HU and led all scorers in the game with 19 points.
Kevin Kyle and Lash both had 12 and Benge finished with 10. Kyle
Johnson paced the Lancers with 18 and Eric Gaff chipped in a
double-double with 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Foresters hit one more field goal in the game than Grace and
knocked down eight treys to five for the Lancers, but Grace made up
for it by going 20 -27 at the stripe while HU was 8-11 at the line.
Box Score
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