The Grinnell College men’s basketball team tied its best start in program history after defeating Lawrence University 98-74 Saturday afternoon at Darby Gymnasium.
Grinnell is now 13-1 overall while moving to 9-1 in the Midwest Conference. The 13-1 mark is the same as the Pioneers achieved in the 2003-04 season.
Griffin Lentsch ’13 led Grinnell with 19 points, while Luke Yeager ’15 tallied 15, Brian McMamany ’13 scored 12 and Jack Adams ’13 had 10. McManamy drained 9-of-10 free throws in the contest and Yeager sank 5-of-8 shots from 3-point land.
Adams also had seven rebounds and two steals, while others with two steals were Patrick Maher ’14 and Joe Rogers ’13.
Chris Siebert scored 24 points for the Vikings, who fell to 4-6 in the MWC and 5-9 in all games.
The Pioneers, who never trailed, were up just 22-18 midway through the first half before going on a 20-7 run.
Lentsch had seven points during the run, Jesse Ney ’13 had four, Xander Strek ’12 and Yeager cashed in on 3-pointers and McManamy hit a trio of free throws.
The Pioneers led 55-42 at intermission before Lawrence rallied in the second half, twice coming within six points. The last of those times was with 14:40 left, but a short run that saw Yeager hit a 3-pointer and Rogers and Adams each score buckets put the hosts ahead 71-60.
It was still just a 12-point lead when Grinnell put the game away with an eight-point spurt. Yeager began things with a 3-pointer and Lentsch made two shots for an 85-66 cushion. Dominique Bellamy ’13 added a free throw to put Grinnell ahead by 20 points with 7:39 remaining and the Pioneers never looked back from there.
Grinnell hits the road Wednesday to face Monmouth College. Game time is 7 p.m.
