MBB wins another Tough Mideast Game against #8 Grace Christian

WINONA LAKE, Ind- Men's Basketball took on a familiar foe #8 Grace Christian University. The Crusaders came into the game coming off a 19 point win over #3 CU Harrodsburg and hoped to replicate that against the Tigers. The Crusaders jumped out to an early lead against the Tigers but the Crusader could never pull away. Grace did a great job staying close enough to touch to the Crusaders. TQ Belcher provided big scoring punch for the Crusaders in the first half. The Crusaders went into the half 42-35.

In the second half the Tigers made adjustments and were able to come out to take a 51-50 lead with about 14 minutes to play. The Crusaders were down four points with five minutes to go. GLCC responded with their patented pressure to answer with a 12-0 run to take an eight point lead. GLCC would miss free throws down the stretch while Grace was able to keep it interesting hitting multiple threes. GLCC would ultimately prevail over #8 Tigers 84-83.

Inside the Box Score:

• Crusaders forced 18 turnovers for 21 points off turnovers
• TQ Belcher led the Crusaders with 27 points and 8 rebounds
• Crusaders dished out 12 assists compared to the Tigers 16 assists
• The Tigers won the rebounding battle48-36.

What Coach Says:

"I am happy we got the win. It is always a tough game against Grace Christian. Coach Bailey does a great job with his guys and they play extremely hard. We were fortunate we were able to win the game today. I thought we had too many spurts especially defensively where we did not play with the energy that is the standard for us." On TQ Belcher, "TQ Belcher is a shot maker. He was really in the zone early and hit some tough shots late for us. TQ is a big time player." On what's next, "We have two big out of region games this weekend our focus is to get our first one Friday."

What's Next:

Men's Basketball will head to South Carolina to participate in the Bob Jones Classic January 22-23rd.