WINONA LAKE, Ind. — Devin Heath-Granger turned in the second-most steals in a game by an NAIA Division II player this season, but the Goshen College men's basketball team dropped a 95-89 Crossroads League rivalry game to Grace College on Saturday at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.

Heath-Granger finished with eight takeaways, the most by a Maple Leaf in any game since 2012 and in a conference game since 2010, and scored 15 points as Goshen's entire starting lineup reached double figures for the first time this season.

The point guard and Indianapolis native opened the scoring after 23 seconds before the Lancers (10-14, 3-9) hit their first three shots for a 6-2 lead. Goshen (also 10-14, 3-9) answered with four straight makes, including a conventional 3-pointer from Conner Funkhouser and an old-fashioned 3-point play by Billy Geschke, for a 15-11 lead before the 15-minute mark.

The hosts took their largest lead of the half at eight on a Stephen Halsted triple with 6:58 to play: Goshen went on a 6-1 spurt to whittle the deficit back to 37-33, but the Lancers scored nine of the last 13 points heading into the locker room to take a 51-41 lead.

Grace finished the first half shooting 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) from the floor to go with 5-of-8 shooting from long range while grabbing almost two-thirds of the 35 rebounds. The Maple Leafs forced 11 turnovers while giving the ball up just four times and shooting 43.9 percent (18-of-41), but mustered three makes on 13 tries from downtown.

Goshen scored nine of the first 12 points coming out of halftime, with a pair of Heath-Granger foul shots closing the hole to 54-50 with 15:06 remaining. The foul shots would be a theme over the final 20 minutes, as Goshen attempted 22 and Grace 18; each team missed twice.

Each team missed its next three shots before cashing in on the next two: both of Goshen's buckets came from freshman Colton Noel, who converted both kinds of 3-point plays in the span of less than a minute en route to a career-high 12 points. The foul shot brought Goshen within 58-56.

Grace had taken the lead for good 8:28 before halftime; more than 20 minutes later, Noel brought that edge to an end with a bucket in the paint at the 7:11 mark. The Maple Leafs pulled level twice more in the next 90 seconds, first on two Christian Grider free throws and again on a Geschke field goal. All three times, though, the Lancers scored on their next trip to re-take the lead.

The Maple Leafs' shooting picked an inopportune time to go cold, however: Geschke's equalizer would be the team's last basket for more than three and a half minutes as Grace went on a 12-4 run. In that span, the teams combined to go 10-of-10 at the foul line. A pair of Grider triples in the last quarter-minute closed the score to 94-89. By that point, Grace had made 15 of 16 free throws in crunch time to render the result academic.

Funkhouser's 23 points led all players: the senior finished with half of Goshen's 26 free-throw tries, making 10 along with 6-of-13 shooting. Grider, Geschke and Heath-Granger all finished with four foul shot attempts apiece, posting 21, 17 and 14 points respectively. Noel shot 5-of-7 from the floor.

Goshen got 87 of its 89 points from its starting five and outdid Grace 19-4 on second-chance points, pulling down 13 offensive rebounds to Grace's seven despite playing without injured forward Alhassan Barrie for the second straight game. The Lancers won the glass 41-29, though, and Grace's bench outscored Goshen's 27-2 in the win.

Logan Godfrey paced the Lancers with 19 points: Matt Jennings and Erik Bowen added 16 points each, the latter shooting 8-for-9 from the floor. Haden Deaton scored 10 points; while Braxton Linville, the fifth starter, was held to seven points, he led all players with nine rebounds and seven assists.

The Lancers cooled off to 48 percent (12-of-25) from the floor in the second half, still finishing the game with a 59.6 percent clip from the floor (31-for-52) and a 53.8 percent mark from long range (7-for-13). Goshen finished 30-for-75 (40 percent) overall and 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) beyond the arc.

Heath-Granger finished with four assists, pulling him within three of the school record held by 1981 graduate Kenny Edwards; he also pulled within 35 points of 1,000 for his career and reached seventh place on the single-season assist list with 154. Edwards and Heath-Granger both boast two of the top six seasons by Maple Leafs in that category.

Grider's scoring total pushed him past 2002 alumnus Jordan Buller into 15th place in Goshen history (1,172 points); Funkhouser eased past Moe Miller into 26th place with 1,023.

Geschke's four foul shots slid him into eighth on Goshen's all-time free-throw list: the senior now has 252 while 1996 graduate Kelly Shepherd and 1993 alumnus Shawn Nafziger each had 250. Finally, while neither Geschke nor Grider moved up on the career 3-pointer list, both will do so with their next make: Grider and 2006 grad Tyler Sheerer are tied for sixth with 177 while Geschke matched 2011 product Jeremy Pope with 11.

The loss means that Goshen and Grace split the season series, with each team winning by six points at home: if the teams are tied at the end of the regular season, whichever club performed better against the conference champion will get the higher seed.

The Maple Leafs turn their attention from one rivalry game to another, as they go for a season sweep on the road for the second time in as many games. Goshen visits the Wiekamp Athletic Center in Mishawaka on Wednesday to take on no. 13 Bethel after upsetting the Pilots 106-96 in Gunden Gymnasium on Dec. 6. Tip-off is set for approximately 8 p.m. after the women's game at 6.