WINONA LAKE, Ind. – No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan men's basketball fell to No. 2 Grace 84-82 in a tightly contested Crossroads League Tournament Championship on Wednesday. Despite trailing by as many as 12 points, the Wildcats rallied in the second half, outscoring the Lancers 45-38 but ultimately fell short. The red and grey recorded 10 steals and benefited from 33 points from the bench. Grace maintained its lead throughout the game with a 53.6 percent shooting performance.
THE ESSENTIALS
- Location: Winona Lake, Ind. | Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center
- Records: IWU 26-5, 14-4 CRL | GC 28-3, 15-3 CRL
- NAIA Top 25 Rankings: IWU – #4 | GC – #2
- CRL Tournament Seeding: IWU - #2 | GC - #1
FIRST HALF
- Grace started with a strong shooting performance, achieving 6-for-13 from beyond the arc, which set the tone early.
- Indiana Wesleyan responded with a balanced attack, scoring 22 points in the paint and maintaining pressure through six steals.
- GC capitalized on turnovers, converting eight Indiana Wesleyan turnovers into points, helping them maintain momentum.
- The Lancers led 46–37 at halftime.
SECOND HALF
- Indiana Wesleyan's DJ Moore assisted Caedmon Bontrager on a fast-break dunk at 17:57, trimming the deficit to nine.
- Grace's Grady Carpenter stole the ball and scored a layup with 14:31 remaining, extending its lead to 12 points.
- IWU's Crew Gibson completed a layup and free throw at 13:00 to cut the lead to seven.
- The Wildcats outscored Grace 45–38 in the half, but GC held on for an 84–82 victory.
KEY WILDCATS
NEXT TIME OUT
- The Wildcats will wait to see who they host next week in the NAIA National Championship First & Second Rounds.
- Links for tickets, video, and stats are available at IWUWildcats.com.
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