The short-handed Grinnell College men's basketball team gave a valiant effort, but in the end league-leading Lawrence University eked out a 109-106 victory over the Pioneers Saturday afternoon at Darby Gymnasium.

Playing without injured all-conference performers David Arseneault '09 and Keith Chamberlain '08, the Pioneers went toe-toe-toe with the Vikings and had two looks at 3-pointers in the waning seconds in an attempt to force overtime.

Lawrence, a 79-55 winner over Grinnell just over a week ago, improved to 8-0 in the Midwest Conference and 13-1 overall. The Pioneers dipped to 5-3 in the league and 10-5 in all games.

The Pioneers got a strong punch from John Grotberg '09 and Bobby Long '09, who scored 34 and 25 points, respectively. Both also shot well from the free throw line, as Grotberg hit 11-of-13 shots and Long 6-of-7. As a team, Grinnell made 21-of-25 free throws for a solid 84 percent. Long also had five assists, Grotberg added four and P.J. Mahaffey '11 grabbed five rebounds.

Grinnell led by as many as six early on, when Mahaffey's 3-pointer made it 19-13 at the 14:02 mark of the first half. But the visitors stormed back and went ahead by as many as eight at 31-23, and twice by nine a bit after that. The Pioneers still trailed 44-37 late in the half when they closed out the frame with a 12-2 run for a 49-46 lead at intermission. Grotberg had seven points in the run, Ahmed Idrissa '09 scored three and Long two.

Lawrence led most of the second half and went ahead by as many as seven twice, the last time at 80-73 with 9:00 to go. However, Grinnell again charged back and eventually grabbed an 89-88 cushion with 5:35 left on Idrissa's 3-pointer. After Lawrence took the lead, Grinnell three times forced ties, the last being at 96-all on Idrissa's 3-pointer with 3:16 to go. Lawrence took off, though, and twice went up by six points including 107-101 with 1:01 to go.

Grinnell didn't give up, as Grotberg made a layup to bring the Pioneers within 107-103. Chris Page of Lawrence was fouled and made just one of two shots for a 108-103 lead, but Long brought the crowd to its feet with a 3-pointer with :26 left to bring the Pioneers within two. Ben Rosenblatt was fouled and made one of two shots, putting Lawrence up by three with :14 left. The Pioneers came downcourt and had two shots at treys but both were barely off the mark, preserving the Vikings' victory.

Grinnell travels to Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday.
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