Men's Basketball upset by Grace in regional semifinal

WYOMING, Mich. - Great Lakes Christian College men's basketball's come-from-behind magic ran out in the NCCAA DII Mid-East regional semifinal on Friday night as they lost to Grace Christian University, 78-75.

Grace jumped out to a double-digit lead quickly, going up by as many as 18 before a run by GLCC at the end of the half cut the deficit to 43-33 at halftime.

Great Lakes chipped away at the lead throughout the second half, tying the game twice and finally taking their first lead in over 35 minutes with a Whitney Harris bucket, going up 74-72 with 1:48 left. This time, however, Grace would not be denied and Kellum Bridgeforth hit four free throws down the stretch to put Grace in front for good. A last-second game-tying three-point attempt by TQ Belcher was no good and Grace held on to advance to the regional final.

GLCC had one of their worst shooting performances of the season on Friday, making 39.5% (30/76) of their field goal attempts and only 21.2% (7/33) of their threes. Kylan Shipp led the team with 21 points and Trent Temple scored 16 while Javion Felton grabbed 14 rebounds.

Bridgeforth (25 points, 15 rebounds) and Keirson Watts (25 points, 12 rebounds) paced GCU with double-double performances.

Grace will face two-seed Campbellsville Harrodsburg in the regional final. As for Great Lakes, they await the draw for the NCCAA DII national tournament to see if they will be granted an at-large bid, an outcome that seems likely given their top ranking in the most recent national NCCAA DII polls.