Winona Lake, Ind. --- For the second time in a week, the Bethel University Men's Basketball team clashed with Crossroads League rival and NAIA sixth-ranked Grace Lancers, falling by a final score of 86-73.

In what would be a game of spurts, the night started with a 10-2 run by the Lancers, which junior Nathan Aerts broke up with a three-pointer to put the Pilots down 10-5 at 16:01. The Pilots regained the lead on a Lutz deep ball at 13:56 to give the Pilots the 11-10 advantage, part of a 15-2 run that gave the visitors a 20-12 lead.

The Pilots couldn't hold back a 7-2 Lancer run to bring the lead down to one. With minutes to go in the first half, Bethel would struggle to pull away, allowing Grace to go on another 7-3 run to tie the game at 30 a piece at 2:26. The Pilots would go into half-time with a one-point lead 34-33.

The tight grapple would continue until 9:03 in the second half, where Grace would begin to stretch their lead to 59-52.  Freshman Chikara Tanaka kept the Pilots within nine points after drawing a foul on a missed three-pointer and sinking two of three free throws with 4:18 left to go, but Bethel never got closer than 8 points the rest of the way as they struggled all game long shooting the ball and giving up 53 second half points to the Lancers.

Drew Lutz led the way once again for the Pilots, canning 11 of 22 form the floor and scoring a game-high 30 points. Sophomore Brandon Hunt had a career-high of 11 rebounds, while Chikara Tanaka and Aerts chipped in the scoring column with 10 and 12 points, respectively.

The Pilots were outrebounded 46-32 and struggled from the floor as a team, shooting just 40% from the floor and a lowly 5 for 25 (20%) from behind the arc.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

• Drew Lutz has had his best games at the Manahan OCC in Winona Lake, Ind., initially scoring 36 points against Bushnell (Ore.) and 30 against Grace.
• Bethel managed to make only 2 of 14 shots from the three in the 2^nd half (14%).

 
NEXT TIME OUT
The Pilots travel to the Gunden Gymnasium in Goshen, Ind., to take on the Goshen Maple Leafs Saturday, Jan. 21, at 3:00 p.m. Check out the action at rrsn.com, with pregame starting at 2:45 p.m.

For the latest information on each of Bethel University's 31 intercollegiate athletic teams, visit BUPilots.com or follow the Pilots on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @BUPilots or YouTube at /BethelSportsNetwork.