Paul Nelson

For the first time in Grace Bible College history, they have beaten NCAA III national power Calvin College.  In the opening round of the Calvin Tournament, Grace jumped out to a 28-10 lead and never trailed in the contest,winning in convincing style 83-68.  Allen Durham led the attack with 23 points and 12 rebounds and Brandon Herlein scored 18. Paul Nelson came off the bench to score 16 while hitting four three’s.  Grace shot 49.3% from the floor compared to the home teams 39.3.

“We know we can play with anyone if we can manage the game”, said Head Coach Gary Bailey.  “Tonight we would extend the lead and then take a few hurried shots and they would convert on the other end and tighten the game up again.  I thought in the second half we did a better job of executing our game plan.  Calvin is always an extremely disciplined and well coached team and I felt that our quick start kind of surprised them a little.  We shot very poorly from the foul line making just 5-12 and missed two front ends of the one and one.  I’m glad it didn’t come down to free throws tonight.  That would have been tough to take.  I’m proud of our team.  Our bench gave us a nice lift tonight.  This is a great win for the team and our school.”

Grace held a 19-11 assist advantage with Allen Durham handing out 5, Dan Dame and Cory Jamieson with 4 each.  Kyle Rothley and Ryan Dame received praise from Coach Bailey for their play off the bench.

Grace will take on Davenport University in the championship game at 3:00pm on Saturday.

There was a great write up in the Grand Rapids Press about the game.