Grace downs #1 Great Lakes on Senior Night

The NCCAA II #2 Grace Christian University Tigers closed out their home schedule Tuesday night with a bang, defeating the #1 Great Lakes Christian College Crusaders in front of an electric Aldrich Athletic Center crowd that was at capacity.

After a very evenly played first half, the Tigers held a two point lead headed into the break. The Crusaders stormed out in the second half on a 9-0 run to quickly take the lead, but the Tigers answered with a 19-4 run to take the lead right back and they would hold on to it for the rest of the game. Great Lakes would trim it down to as many as three points, but a huge and-1 conversion from Hank Schemmel would ignite a spark in the Aldrich Athletic Center crowd and Grace's bench that seniors Austin Jackson and Adam Kregel would carry on the rest of the way. Jackson was nothing short of dominate in the paint for the remaining minutes of the game, and Kregel knocked down three of his seven three-point shots on the night during a final run that would blow the lead open to as many as 15 points and result in a 96-84 win for the Tigers.

Fittingly on senior night, four seniors would lead the way for the Tigers in the box score. Jackson finished the game with a career-high 32 points on 14-16 shooting and 11 rebounds, recording his fifth straight double-double. Kregel matched a career-high with 27 points on 7-11 shooting from beyond the arc. Brandon Winchester-Jones scored 15 and dished out a team-high 9 assists. Keoante Blackamore scored 10 points to round out the Tigers in double-figures.

Grace moves to 15-11 on the season and 8-1 in NCCAA DII play. They will close out their regular season with a road trip to Kentucky, with games on Thursday against Boyce College, Friday against Campbellsville-Somerset, and Saturday against Campbellsville-Harrodsburg.