Men’s basketball team beats Grace Bible, 80-74

HOLLAND, Mich. – Junior Chris Chrzan scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Olivet College men's basketball team to an 80-74 win over Grace Bible College tonight at Hope College's Holland Sentinel/Russ DeVette Classic and played in the DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland.

Chrzan made 8-of-17 baskets, including five from behind the three-point arc, and 8-of-8 free throws for his 29 points. Three other starters joined him in double figures in the scoring column. Senior Lee Gardner finished with 15 points to go along with a team-best eight rebounds. Junior Zach Walker contributed 14 points and five assists, while junior Eric Ewing had 13 points.

After a 5-5 tie, the Tigers scored seven straight points to take 12-5 lead, which would be their largest advantage of the first half. Olivet battled back with a 10-4 run to cut its deficit down to one point, 16-15. Grace Bible then extended its lead to five points four different times, with the last one being 27-22 at the 3:28 mark.

Over the next 50 seconds of game, the Comets responded with five consecutive points – on a three-pointer by freshman Nick Niznak and two free throws by Gardner – to knot the score at 27-27. After Olivet tied the game one more time at 29-29, Connor Crawford put the Tigers ahead 32-29 at halftime with his fourth three-pointer of the half.

In the opening 20 minutes, both teams made 11 baskets. Grace Bible made five baskets from behind the arc and five free throws compared to four triples and three free throws for the Comets. Olivet did a better job holding onto the ball, committing only one turnover to 10 for the Tigers. Grace Bible had a slight edge in total rebounds, 24 to 21; however, the Comets grabbed eight more offensive rebounds, 12 to 4.

Olivet opened the second half with a 10-2 run for a five-point cushion, 39-34. The Comets led by five points one more time, 41-36, with 16:23 remaining in the game. The Tigers responded with an 8-0 run to go up 44-41. Undeterred, Olivet came back with a 13-2 run for an eight-point lead, 54-46.

Grace Bible netted five of the next seven points to trim its deficit down to five points, 56-51. The Comets came back with four straight points to take their largest lead of the game, 60-51, with 8:59 left in the contest. Olivet did not give up the lead for the rest of the game.

For the game, the Comets made one more basket than the Tigers, 25 to 24. Both teams dropped in eight three-pointers. The difference in the game was Olivet shot 84.6 percent (22-of-26) from the charity stripe to 66.7 percent (18-of-27) for Grace Bible. The Comets also turned the ball over only five times compared to 16 times for the Tigers.

Rod Altidor paced Grace Bible with 19 points, while Crawford registered 14 points. Bernard Smith grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds.

Olivet faces Hanover (Ind.) College in the second game of the tournament tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Hanover fell the host Flying Dutchmen, 85-81 in overtime, in today's other game. The Panthers led late in the game until three free throws by Hope's Dante Dawkins with 0.9 seconds left in regulation forced overtime. Michael Van Kleunen Hanover with 29 points, while Sam Otto's 20 points paced the Flying Dutchmen.