MARION, Ind. -- There are a lot of things George Jones IV can do on the basketball court and he showcased nearly every single one of them on Tuesday night as Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball pulled off the 82-74 upset of No. 4-ranked Grace (Ind.) College.

And Jones IV used one of his best all-around performances in front of a raucous Luckey Arena on Black Out Night. The junior guard shot 7-of-7 from the floor for a game-high 16 points along with a game-best seven rebounds.

"He made big play after big play tonight," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "When we needed a bucket George made it happen. When we needed a rebound George made it happen."

Jones IV opened his night with a highlight dunk for his first two points and then finished with a pair of late baskets to ice the much needed victory for Indiana Wesleyan. The win was the seventh in a row for IWU in the series and the 12th in the last 14 meetings.

In between the Jones IV heroics the game saw a 21 point Wildcat lead and a late Lancer charge to bring the game to a single possession with less than two minutes to play.

Indiana Wesleyan (14-9, 6-5 MCC) took it to Grace in the opening frame and held multiple double digit leads. The largest lead in the half was 34-21 on a Jones IV driving layup. Grace was able to bring the deficit back to single digits at the break as IWU led 40-31.

Grace (18-4, 8-3 MCC) opened the second half with a 3-point bucket by senior forward Dayton Merrell to trim the score to 40-34. The 3 would be the first of many for Grace in the half as the team was 9-of-13 (69.2-percent), including nine in their first 11 attempts.

Indiana Wesleyan answered with the game's next eight points. Junior guard Aaron Martin drilled a 3-pointer, Jones IV scored again in the paint, and junior forward Patrick Hopkins finished the flurry with an old-fashioned 3-point play. The Hopkins field goal was the 1,000th career point for the Kokomo, Indiana native.

With the score 52-39 the Wildcats would attack with another 8-0 spurt. Freshman guard DJ Bettinger sank one of his three 3-pointers in the game for a 60-39 IWU advantage with 11:33 on the clock.

Grace quickly reeled off a 10-0 run in less than three minutes to force an Indiana Wesleyan timeout as the lead shrank to 60-49. IWU would recapture momentum with seven straight points to build a 67-49 lead with 7:55 to play.

The ping pong game continued as the Lancers rallied once again. GC scored 12 of the next 14 points to trail by eight (69-61) with just under five minutes to play. It was the first time the lead was single digits since the first two minutes of the half.

After another Jones IV basket and free throw gave Indiana Wesleyan a 72-61 lead, Grace raced to a 9-1 run to draw within three points at 73-70 and 1:52 left. But Jones IV responded for IWU with a driving basket in the lane on the next possession. On the defensive end Jones IV forced a Grace turnover which resulted in another Jones IV basket in the paint. He was fouled but missed the free throw as IWU held a 77-70 lead with exactly 1:00 to play.

The Wildcats connected on 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to secure its fourth win this year against teams ranked in the top-six of the NAIA Division II Poll. IWU also holds an 8-2 record against teams ranked in the poll or receiving votes.

Grace entered play on Tuesday receiving 30.0 points per game from its two leading scorers, junior guard Bruce Grimm, Jr. (15.2) and senior center Duke Johnson (14.8). Indiana Wesleyan limited the duo to a combined 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting.

"When our post players work that hard we become a good defensive team," stated Tonagel. "I thought Pat Hopkins, Parker Stouffer, Taylor Schoen, and Aaron Martin worked really hard in the post tonight. I also thought our guards did a good job of containing (Grimm, Jr.). He's quick. But I thought it was a team effort. We had a lot of guys cover him so it was a good team effort."

Offensively, Indiana Wesleyan shot 60.0-percent (30 of 50) from the field and 45.5-percent (5 of 11) from range. And the offense came from many different places as nine players saw 12 or more minutes tonight.

"Depth is an advantage for us," continued Tonagel. "If everybody comes focused, like tonight, anybody we put in executed their role and brought energy."

Junior guard Jordan Weidner joined Jones IV with game-highs of 16 points. Hopkins finished with 12, Bettinger with nine, senior guard Derrick Troyer and Martin contributed eight points apiece, while Schoen and Stouffer each added six.

The Wildcats are back in action at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 28 with a home date against Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) University.

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