Lancers Light It Up To Best Bethel
MISHAWAKA – Elliot Smith has the green light at all times to shoot 3-pointers for the Grace College men’s basketball team.
That proved to be beneficial in a big, big way for the Lancers Tuesday night.
The Grace sharpshooter took advantage of that earned right to put quite the hurting on host Bethel College.
Smith, a senior guard, tickled the twine with a career-best seven treys as the hot-shooting Lancers topped the Pilots 96-83 in a huge Crossroads League game in Gates Gymnasium in the Wiekamp Center on the Bethel College campus.
Grace, led by Smith’s outside shooting display, drilled 13-of-23 shots from beyond the arc to collect a key league win over the No. 18 Pilots. The 13 treys was a season high for the Lancers, whose 96 points were their highest since a 100-97 win over Bethel on Feb. 14, 2012.
Smith led the Lancers with 23 points, but was one of just a host of heroes for Grace. Bruce Grimm Jr. and Karl Columbus each had huge second-half performances to finish with 18 points each for the winners, while Greg Miller scored 16 and Niko Read 10.
Grace, which lost 98-88 at home to Bethel on Jan. 10, improves to 20-8 overall and more importantly takes over second place in the league standings at 12-5 with one conference game left.
Bethel, which has lost four in a row, drops to 20-9 overall and 11-6 in league play.
“The thing I wanted us to do tonight was to play as hard as Bethel did,” said Grace coach Jim Kessler. “I wanted us to compete and play to win and I think we did that.
“Bethel just outworked us when we played at our place earlier in the season. They play hard every game and that’s what I love about them. We got kind of caught up at a stretch in the season thinking too much about winning being the important thing. That kept us from playing hard at times.
“I told them I was worried about two things; playing as hard as we can in practices and games and being the best teammates you can be. I wanted us to match Bethel’s intensity tonight. I was worried about this game. Bethel is a good team, they are well coached and it was senior night for them. I knew they would play hard.
“It’s a big win for us in the conference and I’m elated. Elliot is a valiant competitor and we have a lot of confidence in him. We rode him tonight when he got hot. Our players have to get an A license in practice by hitting so many threes to have the green light to shoot them in a game. Tonight, Elliot, Greg (Miller), Niko (Read) and Morgan (Michalski) all had the green light.”
Smith, a 6-0 senior guard who played at Northridge High School, helped stake Grace to a 44-36 halftime lead with 13 points Tuesday night. The Lancers used a 9-0 run to build a 40-27 lead before the Pilots answered with a 7-0 run to cut the gap just before halftime. The Lancers hit eight treys in the opening half.
Smith saved his best for late in the game though. The Pilots, led by guards Matt Schauss and Zach Miller, rallied to cut a 59-44 Lancer lead down to 67-58 with 7:05 to play. Smith then hit back-to-back triples to bump the Grace lead back into double digits. He then hit the dagger with 4:18 to play as he rose up in front of the Lancer bench and drained another trey with the shot clock winding down to make it 80-71. Grace then closed out the win as Grimm Jr. Columbus and Miller each hit clutch free throws in the final minutes.
“We just hit shots tonight,” said Smith, who quickly caught a mistake on the final stat sheet that only credited him with six treys. “I hit seven. I was counting,” he added.
“We just brought a lot more intensity this game than the last time we played Bethel. We were the aggressor tonight and we brought the high level of intensity that we need every night.
“I’ve never hit seven threes in a game at any level. They were pressing and gambling and I got some open looks tonight. We had better ball movement, but you get those shots with the way that Bethel plays. It’s great when you hit them like we did tonight.”
Smith finished a blistering 7-of-10 from distance as Grace evened the all-time series with Bethel at 60-60. Read gave the Lancers a huge lift as he drained 3-of-4 from deep in the win.
The Lancers got great efforts from Columbus and Grimm Jr. in the final 20 minutes. Columbus, a sophomore guard from South Bend Riley, scored 16 points in the final half. Grimm Jr., the senior point guard from Rochester, had 13 points in the second half and also finished with eight assists and zero turnovers.
Grace helped its winning cause with a 27-of-37 effort from the free throw line. Bethel made just 12-of-22 from the stripe.
Miller and Ryan Benner, a junior guard from Mishawaka, each scored 17 points to pace Bethel. Schauss scored 15 points and Micheal Mislan 12 for the Pilots, who had dropped their previous three games by a total of five points.
Bethel forward Jordan Bowerman, a 6-7 senior from Leo, scored just seven points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field. Bowerman poured in a team-high 24 points to lead the Pilots to their win at Grace last month.
Grace, which took over sole possession of second place in the league standings with the win (one game behind leader Indiana Wesleyan), hosts Taylor Saturday at 3 p.m. in the conference and regular-season finale.
Bethel plays at Marian Saturday at 3 p.m. in its league finale.
The Crossroads League tournament begins Feb. 20 with the semifinals set for Feb. 23 and the title game on Feb. 26.