WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace's men's basketball team flexed its muscles during a 90-61 win over St. Francis on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Crossroads League Tournament.
The NAIA No. 4-ranked Lancers won their eighth straight game, improving their record to 26-3.
Grace, who is seeded No. 1 in the CL Tourney, will host Marian on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the tournament semifinals.
The Lancers had nine players register a point in a balanced effort; six players had at least nine points.
Frankie Davidson led Grace in scoring with 24 points, shooting 8 of 11 from the floor, 4 of 6 on 3-pointers and 4 of 4 from the foul line.
Grace won the regular season league championship and is seeking to defend its league tournament title from a year ago.
The Cougars played much of the game without a true post player, giving Grace an immediate size advantage across the court.
Early on, however, Grace found scoring against USF's zone from the outside. The Lancers began the game with back-to-back 3-pointers. Two early triples from Carter Stoltzfus put the Lancers on top 11-4 early.
Brett Sickafoose then provided another boost midway into the half, swishing two more triples to push Grace's lead to 27-8.
The Lancers' cushion grew to 24 points at 33-9. The Cougars managed to put together a small rally to close the half but still trailed 43-30 at halftime.
Davidson provided a deadly shooting touch, amassing 12 points in the opening half with two 3-pointers, and Stoltzfus scored 10.
Grace shot 61 percent as a team in the half, including 50 percent from beyond the arc. USF was muted to 43 percent as a team, including 27 percent on 3s.
In the opening minutes of the second half, the Lancers ripped off 13 unanswered points. Elijah Malone finished an and-1, and Davidson had five points during the spurt.
Grace's lead never dipped below 20 points for the final 17 minutes of regulation.
The Lancers' combination of speed and size gave USF fits. The Cougars shot under 30 percent from the floor after halftime and hit just one of their nine 3-point tries (11 percent).
Grace finished the game shooting 56 percent from the floor. The Lancers also canned 46 percent from the 3-point line, hitting 12 of 26.
Stoltzfus finished with 13 points with three boards, and Malone had 11 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in 22 minutes of work.
Brycen Graber shot 4 of 7 from the floor while producing 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots.
Sickafoose hit three 3-pointers for his nine points, and Jakob Gibbs tallied nine points and three assists.
Jake Wadding scored six and pulled down four rebounds, Ian Scott had 4 points, 4 assists and 5 rebounds, and Cade Gibbs had 2 points, 4 rebounds and a game-high 6 assists.
As the No. 1 seed, Grace will host the rest of the league tournament if they continue to win. If Grace is able to advance past Marian on Saturday at 1 p.m., then the Lancers would host the tournament championship next week on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against either Huntington or Taylor.
