Lancers Confident Heading Into NCCAAs
WINONA LAKE – Losing to an arch rival was a bittersweet ending of one chapter for the Grace College men’s basketball team.
Beat Bethel College in the championship game of the Crossroads League conference tournament and move to the NAIAs in Missouri. Lose, and go home, literally. The Lancers came up heartbreakingly short in a 70-65 loss to Bethel March 4, sending Bethel to Branson with the automatic ticket to the NAIAs and Grace back to Winona Lake. But for Lancer head coach Jim Kessler, there is a silver lining.
“I wondered on the ride home how the team would respond,” Kessler said of Grace playing host for the NCCAA National Tournament, to which the Grace men’s and women’s programs both are a participant. “We talked to Greg Miller, one of our captains, and he said the team wants to play, and play hard. I know if the kids weren’t playing as part of our season, they would be at open gyms, they just love to play basketball.”
Kessler noted his program has been a runner-up in the NCCAA tournament four times, but has never stood atop the podium. “We have no illusions of grandeur of this being an NAIA versus NCCAA thing. It’s basketball. Unless you are playing in the NBA, which is the top of the hill, it’s just basketball.”
The NCCAA tournament, which could be explained as the NIT to the NCAA tournament for Division I basketball, will be hosted by Grace College starting with activities Tuesday and games Wednesday through Saturday.
The Lancers, which started the season 5-1 and then dropped five straight Crossroads games only to rally for a 18-14 overall record, finished with a flourish by beating Huntington and Spring Arbor to make the conference final against Bethel. With players in tow like Miller, who is up for the Pete Maravich Award, and tremendous guard play from players like sophomore Logan Irwin, sophomore Brandon Vanderhegghen and junior Niko Read, the Lancers do have momentum heading into the eight-team tourney.
“It’s been quite a ride,” Kessler said. “To start like we did with and then hit the lull in conference, then to have Greg Miller get hurt, we really had to change our style of play. We can’t outshoot teams, so defensively we really had to get after it. Things really changed after the Bethel loss (110-69, Jan. 4). We had to get together and work on staying together as a team. I was really impressed with how we finished up the season.”
Should Grace be able to win all three games and hoist the trophy as the NCCAA tournament champion, Kessler would reach a coaching milestone. Currently, Kessler is sitting on 697 career wins, and while he doesn’t want to add any additional pressure to his club, that number is still there.
“We never talk about 700. Really, forget about that number, coaches just want to be 1-0,” Kessler insisted. “I haven’t scored a basket since 1970. All 700 really means is that the teams I coached won a lot, but we have lost a lot, too. I’ve lost 525 games, which I think is the most losses by a coach, along with the 697, which is the most by any coach. No one ever looks at that. Coaches get credit for all of that.”
Joining Grace in the men’s tournament will be Southern Nazarene (Okla.), Colorado Christian, Mid-American Christian (Okla.), Union (Tenn.), Carver (Ga.), Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) and Roberts Wesleyan (NY). Grace will begin its journey for its first NCCAA title with a game Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. against Colorado Christian.
For more information on the NCCAA tournament, visit gclancers.com.