Grace College sophomore Erik Bowen makes a move in the regular-season finale Feb. 20. Bowen and the Lancers will play at Goshen College Wednesday night in a quarterfinal game of the Crossroads League Tournament (Photo provided by the Grace College Sports Information Department)

WINONA LAKE – The third time will be the charm for either the Grace College or Goshen College men’s basketball team come Wednesday night.

The pair will clash in the third meeting of the season in a quarterfinal matchup of the Crossroads League tournament.

This time there will also be much more at stake for the two conference foes.

The Lancers and the Maple Leafs are set to square off at 7 p.m. in the contest slated to be played in the Gunden Gymnasium in the Roman Gingerich Recreation-Fitness Center on the Goshen College campus.

Grace and Goshen are two teams heading in opposite directions going into postseason play. The Lancers have lost three of their last four games and are 3-7 in their last 10 contests. The Leafs have won four of their last five games and boast a 7-3 mark over the last 10 games.

The Lancers and Leafs split their two regular-season meetings with each team winning on their respective homecourt. Grace posted an 88-69 win on Jan. 13 in Winona Lake in a game in which the Lancers had a 36-22 lead at halftime. The Leafs won 88-81 on Feb. 10 at home by outscoring Grace by a 50-36 count in the second half.

Grace, which is the No. 5 seed for the eight-team conference tourney, sits at 19-11 overall and went 9-9 in league play.

The Lancers, under Hall of Fame coach Jim Kessler, are led by Brandon Vanderhegghen. The 6-1 senior guard from Mishawaka averages a team-high 16.8 points-per-game. Erik Bowen, a 6-6 sophomore forward from Kokomo, averages 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per contest for the Lancers. Senior guard Logan Irwin, who played at Whitko High School, averages 13.1 ppg.

Vanderhegghen was named the Defender of the Year by the Crossroads League on Monday. Vanderhegghen was a first-team all-conference pick, while Irwin was a third-team choice and Bowen an honorable mention selection. Vanderhegghen and Irwin both were named to the All-Defensive Team.

Goshen is the No. 4 seed for the conference tourney and boasts an 18-12 overall mark. The Leafs went 10-8 in league play, reaching double digit victories for the first-time ever.

The Leafs, under third-year coach Neal Young, have a strong and balanced offense with six players averaging double figures. Dominique Bolden, a 6-5 senior forward from Chicago, leads Goshen in scoring at 15.2 ppg. Conner Funkhouser, a 6-4 sophomore from Avon, averages 12.4 and freshman guard Austin Hayden, who played at Norwell High School, averages 11.2. Sophomore Christian Grider scores 10.3 ppg for the Leafs, while sophomore point guard Devin Heath-Granger. who hails from Indianapolis, is at 10.3 and 6-7 senior center Trevor Commissaris is at 10.1.

Bolden, who transferred to Goshen after playing at Parkland Community College, was a second-team all-conference choice. Commissaris was an honorable mention selection and Hayden was named to the All-Newcomer Team.

The tourney matchup will be the first time Goshen has hosted a league tourney game since 2005. It will also be just the second time the Leafs have hosted in the 23-year history of the tournament.

The other quarterfinal games in the tourney Wednesday night have No. 8 seed Marian (19-11) at No. 1 seed Saint Francis (26-4), No. 7 seed Huntington (13-17) at No. 2 seed Indiana Wesleyan (26-4) and No. 6 seed Taylor (14-16) at No. 3 seed Bethel (22-8).

The winner of the Grace-Goshen contest will advance to the semifinals on Saturday. They will either play  at top-seed Saint Francis (26-4) or host No. 8 seed Marian (19-11).

The championship game of the tourney is set for March 1. The tourney champion earns an automatic berth in the NAIA Division II National Tournament set for March 9-15 in Branson, Missouri.