WINONA LAKE – A perplexed Grace College men’s basketball coaching staff sat in the film room Wednesday night, each pining over stat sheets. Trying to figure out how they lost 79-77 to St. Francis, head coach Jim Kessler at one point threw his hands up in the air.

“Sometimes, that’s just how it goes.”

Kegan Comer hit a three-pointer with 1.4 seconds to go to give St. Francis the win in a game that had the Cougars foul Grace’s Logan Irwin twice on purpose inside the final minute with the game in the balance.

With a minute to go and St. Francis up 76-74, head coach Chad LaCross elected to have Jordan Hahn foul Irwin on the perimeter. Irwin, a 58 percent free throw shooter coming into the night, hit one of two.

Unable to convert on the other end, St. Francis still had the lead but Grace corralled the rebound. LaCross again elected to have Hahn foul Irwin, this time with 14 seconds left on the clock. Irwin hit both, setting up Comer’s eventual three from the right wing, which gave the Cougars the win in stunning fashion.

“That’s gutsy, he’s a competitor,” Kessler said of the Irwin scenario and St. Francis choosing to foul. “(Logan’s) going to give you his best. There’s no question about that.”

Comer was just 1-3 from three, but made it count. The guard led the team with 13 points and five assists on the night. Seth Small also checked in with 13 points while Hahn and Bryce Lienhoop concluded with 12 points each.

Lienhoop’s bucket with 1:47 to go gave St. Francis its first lead of the second half at 76-74. Grace hadn’t trailed since late in the first half, but never led by more than seven points in the second half.

A key moment in the game happened with 4:02 to go when Erik Bowen picked up his fifth foul. The big forward for Grace had 18 points and 12 rebounds and was a force in the paint. The gaping loss in the middle was huge, but not having him as a scoring option was a bitter pill to take in a tight contest.

“I’m sure it made a difference,” Kessler noted of Bowen’s absence. “He just got into foul trouble and we had to sit him. There was no reason to sit him late in the game and we chose to put him back. Our bigs we had to nurse along all night.”

Irwin would wrap up with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Chad Hoffer provided quality minutes off the bench, scoring 13 points and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.

Kessler, ever appreciative of bounces going either way in a game he has coached for over 30 years, knows breaks likely aren’t coming Saturday at the Wiekamp Center against archrival Bethel. His 8-2 club knows what lies ahead.

“Bethel is coming off a loss and you know they will be ready,” Kessler said.