The Pioneers (4-4, 1-0) jumped out to a 64-50 lead at halftime and never let Illinois College get any closer than nine points down the stretch. The Blueboys (3-4, 0-2) fell behind by as much as 22 points at 108-86 with 5:34 remaining but outscored the visitors 23-10 and trimmed the margin to 118-109 with just under a minute to go. A series of free throws by Grinnell in the final 45 seconds sealed the win.
Paul Nordlund, Eric Walsh and Matt Brown each scored 15 points to lead Grinnell’s balanced attack. The winners also got 14 points from Toby Carlson, 12 from Brock Martinez and 11 from Trek Langenhan. Evan Arnold scored a game-high 25 points for the hosts while Josh Clark added 19, Dudley Dudley had 15 and Brendan Bachman scored 14.
Grinnell put up 53 shots from 3-point range and converted 19 treys while shooting 46 percent (42-90) from the field. They also recorded 19 steals. Illinois College finished with a shooting percentage of 65 percent (48-74) and posted a 45-38 edge on the boards. Dudley and Bachman each collected nine rebounds while Nordlund led the Pioneers with six rebounds.