The Grinnell College men’s basketball team pulled away late in the first half and withstood a second-half rally by Lawrence University to post a 103-94 Midwest Conference victory Friday night at Alexander Gymnasium.
Matt Chalupa paced Grinnell (11-0, 7-0 MWC) with 19 points. Griffin Lentsch and Jesse Ney added 15 points apiece for the Pioneers. Lentsch, the nation’s leading scorer, was limited to half of his 30-point average.
Tyler Crisman and Chris Siebert scored 23 points apiece for Lawrence (3-8, 2-5). Siebert also handed out 13 assists, just two shy of tying Lawrence’s school record of 15, which is held by current head coach Joel DePagter.
Conor Klusendorf added 20 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Vikings. Klusendorf, who leads the MWC in blocked shots, picked up three blocks on the evening. Andrew Kline chipped in with a career-high 10 points for the Vikings.
Grinnell pulled away in the final six minutes of the first half. Three consecutive points by Davis DeWolfe trimmed Grinnell’s lead to 33-32, but the Pioneers went on a 30-13 run over the the final 6:37 of the half. Grinnell led 63-45 at the half.
Lawrence came out strong in the second half and outscored the Pioneers 12-4 to start the half. Siebert and Kline scored four points apiece in the run that cut Grinnell’s lead to 67-57 with 16:00 left.
Grinnell then got 3-pointers from Evan Johnson, Patrick Maher, Xander Strek and Chalupa to build the lead back to 79-61. Lawrence didn’t cut the lead back to 10 points until the final minute and didn’t get closer than nine points.
The Vikings return to action on Saturday when they host Monmouth College.