GOSHEN, Ind. — Xavier Newson racked up a double-double with 22 points and a game-high 13 rebounds Saturday afternoon as the Goshen College men's basketball team dropped the 128th installment of its rivalry with Grace College 76-68 at Gunden Gymnasium.

Grace (11-13, 3-9) took an early 7-2 lead as point guard Braxton Linville turned in three assists in the first 2:15. Kevin Phillips countered by scoring six of the first nine for the Maple Leafs (10-14, 3-9), who took the lead at the 16:00 mark and would hold it for most of the opening stanza.

The Lancers took a 32-29 lead into the locker room at halftime behind 13 points from Bowen and eight from Chad Hoffer. Newson and Phillips led the hosts with eight each in the first 20 minutes as neither team shot particularly well: Goshen checked in at 39 percent, two points below its guest.

A 12-2 Grace run out of the half put the Lancers up 44-31, their largest lead of the game, with 15:35 left. After Goshen traded a two for a three, the edge was 14, which would stand as the maximum. But the Maple Leafs also had a run in them, holding Grace without a field goal for 5:30. A Christian Grider 3-pointer gave Goshen the lead at 59-57 with 4:42 left.

Erik Bowen snapped the field-goal drought with a game-tying bucket, two of his team-high 18 points, 48 seconds later. The teams traded first turnovers, then baskets, then free throws to leave the score at 65-all with 1:16 left.

Unfortunately for Goshen, Grace had one last move. Off a Maple Leaf miss and a Logan Godfrey rebound, Charlie Warner knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer with 50.3 seconds to play. Newson countered with a basket at the other end to pull within 68-67 as the game clock showed 36.1, but with the shot clock due to switch off after the next Lancer possession, Goshen was forced to foul.

Linville, Warner and Tre Olive combined to go 8-for-8 at the foul line to seal the win.

Grace's 13-for-16 (81.2 percent) mark on free throws in the second half actually came in a smidge behind Goshen's 10-for-12 (83.3 percent), but the Lancers made up for it by draining five of their last eight 3-point tries.

Each team finished with 27 field goals: the visitors had edges of 6-2 from downtown, 16-12 at the line and 34-32 on the glass. Godfrey led Grace with 11 boards, combining with 16 points to make a double-double. Grider scored 18 points and Phillips 16 for Goshen.

Both sides took good care of the basketball: the Maple Leafs turned it over nine times to Grace's seven, against 19 Lancer assists and 11 Goshen dimes. Linville finished with a game-high 10 assists, his best mark in conference play, while Devin Heath-Granger led Goshen with six.

The loss moves Goshen to 3-9 in the Crossroads League, a mark coach Neal Young's team shares with Grace and Marian. The teams are tied for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament: if the season ended today, Marian would get the nod, going undefeated so far against both opponents.

Of course, the season does not end today: each Crossroads League team has six games left. The three 3-9 sides all play three home games and three road games the rest of the way, with the aggregate CL winning percentages of each team's opponents ranging from .528 (Marian) to .556 (Goshen).

Goshen returns home on Wednesday to host Purple Out Night against fourth-ranked Bethel College. The Pilots will enter the game with a two-game lead in the CL standings after knocking off second-place Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. following a 6:00 women's game. Fans can pre-order their commemorative purple shirts for Wednesday night at GoLeafsStore.net.