The Grinnell College men’s basketball team remained perfect on Thursday, posting a 117-107 road victory against Beloit College at Flood Arena.
Grinnell moved to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the Midwest Conference.
The victory also served as the first career win for David N. Arseneault ’09, who is serving as interim head coach during second semester as his father and head coach, David Arseneault, is on sabbatical. It was the younger Arseneault's first game as interim coach.
Five Pioneers scored in double figures, led by Griffin Lentsch ’13 with 28 points including four 3-pointers.
Garrett Nitz ’13 added 16 points while hitting 7-of-8 free throws, Jesse Ney ’13 scored 14 points with the help of four treys, and Patrick Maher ’14 and Matt Chalupa ’12 scored 12 apiece.
Joe Rogers ’13 grabbed four rebounds and had two steals. Also getting two steals were Luke Yeager ’15 and Evan Johnson ’15. Maher and Nitz each dished out three assists.
Beloit, 2-7 in all games and 1-4 in the league, got 25 points from James Lazarcik.
Grinnell led 68-55 at intermission, but pulled away late in the half to do so. Ahead just 49-47 at the 5:19 mark, the Pioneers broke away with a 10-2 run. Ney and Chalupa had 3-pointers in that span, Xander Strek ’12 had a basket and Nitz two free throws to put Grinnell ahead 59-49 with 2:18 to go.
Grinnell worked its lead as big as 20 in the second half before winning by 10.
The Pioneers return to Darby Gymnasium next Tuesday to Illinois College. Game time is 6 p.m.
