It was a steady, consistent effort in all phases of the game that led the Tigers to victory over Maranatha Baptist Bible College at the Aldrich Center on Thursday night.  The #6 ranked Crusaders proved to be a worthy foe but a balanced scoring attack, dominant rebounding, and good defense by the Tigers wore Maranatha down.

Six Tigers hit double figures led by junior Zach Schutte’s (Calvin Christian) 20 points.  Cory Jamieson (Wayland), Ryan Krombeen (Calvin Christian), Ryan Dame (Wayland), and John Oostema (Grand Rapids Christian) all scored 10 points each while Matt Kurtz (Lowell) added 12.  Jamieson led the Tigers with 5 assists.  Juniors Aaron Schutte, Randy Jefferson, and Greg Salmon also contributed valuable minutes, rebounding, and defense off the bench.

Zach Schutte, coming off an outstanding tournament at Calvin College prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, also led the Tigers with 12 rebounds.  The significance of that stat was pointed out when it was noted that no other player in the game had more than 5 rebounds and the entire Maranatha team only collected 18 boards.  The Tigers had 35 rebounds.

The most lopsided statistic was points in the paint where Grace dominated 68-22.  “That definitely helped our shooting percentage tonight,” said Coach Gary Bailey.  The Tigers shot 62.3% from the field while holding the Crusaders to 39.7% for the game.  “They hit 8 three pointers on us,” said Bailey, “but our goal was to control the boards and the paint and we were pleased with our effort there.”

The Tigers are now 7-3 on the season and will face Emmaus Bible College on Friday night at 8 PM at the Aldrich Center.