Grand Rapids, MI – For the first 25 minutes of play Tuesday night at Davenport University, the Grace Christian University Tigers were within reach of the NCAA DII Panthers, matching them punch-for-punch. The 15-3 Panthers would then go on a huge run to blow things open, showing their high-powered offense at its full potential, resulting in a 116-83 setback for the Tigers when it was all said and done.
Despite the loss, junior Brandon Winchester-Jones achieved a career milestone that is worth celebrating, surpassing his 1,000th career point in the first half. Winchester-Jones finished the game with a team-high 23 points. Junior Austin Jackson followed with 15 points, while freshman Kellum Bridgeforth scored 12 to go with team-high 5 rebounds.
"We came into tonight's game with a single goal and that was to prepare our team for tournament time," commented Grace Head Coach Gary Bailey. "Davenport is a great team and we knew it would be a great challenge for us. We showed in the first half that we can play with anybody. Davenport ended the half on a 9-0 run in the last two minutes to take an 8 point lead in to the half. Against a great team like that you just cannot give up the lead in runs like that. In the second half, they just hit shot after shot. We had a couple of guys trying to go on bad ankles and we just shut them down and we knew it was time to get guys some experience. I was proud of our effort tonight."
The Tigers have a busy finish to the week, traveling to Saginaw Valley State University tonight and then Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday for two games this weekend at Welch College.
