Greg Miller (33) celebrates with teammate Jared Treadway after a basket Wednesday night. Miller scored a game-high 24 points to power the Lancers past Colorado Christian 81-71 in a first-round game of the NCCAA Championships at Grace.

WINONA LAKE – The Grace College men’s basketball team was running on “Diesel” power Wednesday night.

Senior big man Greg Miller, known affectionately as “Diesel”, dominated the paint to fuel the Lancers to a first-round win on the opening day of the NCCAA Championships.

Miller, a 6-6 forward, poured in a game-high 24 points as the hosts topped Colorado Christian 81-71 in the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center on the Grace College campus.

Grace, powered by Miller’s inside game, outscored Colorado Christian 40-16 in points in the paint.

Sophomore guard Logan Irwin also turned in a superb game as the No. 7 seed Lancers topped the No. 2 seed in the eight-team field. The former Whitko High School star popped in 19 points on 8-11 shooting as he attacked the basket at will. Irwin, who played last year at Stetson University, also had eight assists and just two turnovers.

Brandon Vanderhegghen, a sophomore guard from Mishawaka, and senior Jared Treadway, a 6-6 forward from Kokomo, each added 10 points for Grace in the win.

The Lancers were a very efficient 29-57 from the field, including 12-23 in the second half as they outscored Colorado Christian 39-31.

Junior guard Michael Brown netted 14 points and senior guard Kyle Weaver had 13 for the guard-oriented Cougars, who shot 11-29 from 3-point range.

Grace (19-14) advances to play No. 6 seed Roberts Wesleyan College (13-14) Thursday night at 8:45 p.m. Wesleyan defeated No. 3 seed Mid-America Christian 90-86 in first-round action Wednesday.

The winner of the Grace-Roberts Wesleyan game earns a spot in the championship game Saturday at 5 p.m.

Senior Greg Miller eyes a free throw for the Lancers. Miller hit 6-7 from the stripe Wednesday night.

“Wow,” remarked Grace College coach Jim Kessler as he scanned the final stat sheet following the win. “We outscored them 40-16 in the paint. I couldn’t ask for more tonight. It’s a simple game. We wanted to get it inside and we were able to do so.

“We did a better job of that in the second half. We were patient and we were able to pound it inside. We were trying to get the ball inside to Greg and we did that. He was the one we wanted to go to in there and we did a good job finding opportunities for him and he was big for us inside.

“We did a good job attacking against their press and our transition was good. We got people where they needed to be and we moved the ball well.”

Kessler, now in his 37th season at Grace, won his 698th career game Wednesday night on Coach Kessler Court.

Grace entered the tourney Wednesday after a strong run in the Crossroads League Tournament to end the regular season. The Lancers just missed earning another trip to the NAIA National Championships after a loss at Bethel College in the title tilt of the league tourney.

Colorado Christian started the game on a strong note. The Cougars built a 27-16 lead halfway through the opening half. They led 36-25 before Miller keyed a big 17-4 run over the final six minutes with back-to-back 3-pointers. Irwin netted 15 points and Miller 13 as the hosts led 42-40 at intermission.

The final half was nip-and-tuck for the first 10 minutes. Colorado Christian pulled within 57-54 on a trey by Weaver at about the midway point of the second half. The Lancers responded with an 11-2 run, sparked by Irwin, a huge trey from Niko Read and a gorgeous old-fashioned three-point play by Miller, to take a 68-56 lead and control of the contest for good.

Miller, just the eighth player in program history to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds, was 8-15 from the field. The Akron native and North Miami High School grad entered the game leading the Lancers in scoring at 17.7 points-per-game.

Read finished with nine points, Caleb Featherston seven and Eric Miller two for the Lancers. Treadway grabbed a dozen rebounds to lead Grace to a 33-25 edge on the glass.

The Lancers were also 18-24 from the free throw line, led by Miller’s 6-7 effort.

Colorado Christian finished 23-55 overall from the field, but were just 9-30 in the final half. The Cougars also went just 5-16 from distance in the second half.

Colorado Christian will play Carver College Thursday at 1:45 p.m. in a loser’s bracket contest.

Grace sophomore guard Logan Irwin had an outstanding game Wednesday night. The former Whitko High School star had 19 points and eight assists in an 81-71 win.