WINONA LAKE, Ind.— Amarion Johnson scored 23 points and the IU Northwest RedHawks traded punches with Grace for most of the first half before the Lancers pulled away to a 99-83 win Friday night.
Gage Sefton hit a 3-pointer on the game's opening possession and finished with 29 points on 11-of-12 shooting for Grace. The RedHawks answered with a bit of fight. Tommy Snyder grabbed his own miss twice in the opening minutes for layups, and Romello Ali's 3-pointer cut Grace's lead to 14-15 midway through the first half.
Johnson then drilled a 3 of his own at 13:50 to make it 17-17. He added a layup at 8:33 for the RedHawks' first lead, 30-29, and Taray Howell hit from deep with 6:30 left to put IU Northwest up 36-33, its biggest lead of the night.
Grace closed the half on a 20-9 run, and Ian Raasch's jumper with one second left made it 53-45 at the break. Johnson had 15 of the RedHawks' points in the first half and made three 3-pointers.
IU Northwest came out of the locker room with purpose. Amauri Moore's jumper at 18:09 of the second half cut the deficit to 51-55, but Raasch answered right away, and Grace built the lead to as many as 21. Johnson, Trey Steinhilber and Howell each connected from beyond the arc in the final minutes, and Moore's jumper with 1:07 left capped the scoring.
"We competed with the No. 1 team in the NAIA for the majority of the game," IU Northwest head coach Javier Heridia said. "It's the first game of the season, and there's a lot more to come to see where we finish."
Duda Nash was efficient with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and a team-high four steals. Snyder added 19 points and six rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass. Howell, who went 2-of-8 from 3-point range, still dished out seven assists and had three steals.
The RedHawks forced 20 Grace turnovers and turned them into 28 points. But Grace shot 54 percent, went 25-of-32 at the line and outrebounded IU Northwest 41-35.
IU Northwest opens its home schedule Thursday, Oct. 29, hosting Andrews University at 7 p.m. CDT in the Savannah Center.
