MISHAWAKA, Ind. – Grace's men's basketball team picked up one of its biggest wins of the season with a 96-83 upset on the road of No. 18 Bethel College on Tuesday.

The Lancers now own sole possession of second place in the Crossroads League with one game remaining in the regular season.

Grace, who is a game behind league leader Indiana Wesleyan, will hope to clinch no worse than No. 2 in the league on Saturday when they host Taylor at 3 p.m.

Five players reached double-digit scoring for the Lancers (20-8; 12-5 CL). Elliot Smith hit several momentum-shifting shots for Grace, drilling 7-of-10 from the 3-point line for a game-high 23 points.

Bruce Grimm Jr. continued to cement his status as the top point guard in the league with 18 points, 8 assists and 0 turnovers.

As a team, the Lancers tied a season-low with four turnovers and drilled a season-best 13 treys.

With the score knotted at 19-19 in the first half, Niko Read came off the bench to propel the Lancers with back-to-back 3-pointers in 21 seconds of action. Grace did not trail after Read's six-point swing.

Grace used a 7-0 run late in the first half to open up a double-digit advantage, but the Pilots (20-9; 11-6 CL) countered with a 9-1 swing of their own.

Lee Ross then buried a 3-pointer on Grace's final possession of the first half to lift the Lancers to a 44-36 lead at the half.

Read provided another boost for the Lancers when he connected on a 3-pointer and was fouled, handing Grace a commanding 59-44 lead with 13:18 to play.

Bethel seemed up for the challenge and eventually cut the gap to six at 77-71 with 4:58 remaining.

But Smith, who made a trio of 3-pointers in three minutes, sank his final trey on Grace's ensuing possession to stem Bethel's momentum.

Grimm buried another triple on Grace's next play, and the Lancers connected on nine free throws over the final 2:52 to ice the win.

Karl Columbus produced 18 points and five rebounds, and Greg Miller added 16 points and eight boards.

Tannan Peters led all players with 10 rebounds to go along with a career-best four assists, Read made 3-of-4 from beyond the arc for 10 points, and Brandon Vanderhegghen chipped in 2 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

The Pilots made 50 percent of their field goals, but the Lancers helped themselves by making 27-of-37 from the foul line.

Grace's 96 points was the team's highest offensive output since the Lancers' 100-97 win over Bethel on Feb. 14, 2012.

*UPDATE (2/13/13 - 3:39 pm) Due to tiebreaking procedure, Grace can finish no lower or higher than the No. 2 seed in the upcoming league tournament. The Lancers can still earn a share of the regular season league title with a win on Saturday and a loss by Indiana Wesleyan, but the Wildcats hold the tiebreaker against the Lancers to give IWU the No. 1 seed.