The William Jewell College men's basketball team returned to action on Saturday as they hosted former Heart of America Athletic Conference foe Graceland University.  Jewell came alive late in the second half to pull out an 84-75 win over the Yellowjackets. The win puts Jewell at the .500 mark with a 5-5 record on the season.
 
The action went back and forth in the first half with both teams hitting a high percentage of shots in the first ten minutes.  Graceland received a boost off the bench from Isaiah Johnson who scored 11 points and was 3-4 from three-point land.   The Yellowjackets built their largest lead of the half of seven before Darius Tomlin's four-point play cut the lead to three. 
 
Graceland went into the half with a 38-35 lead. 
 
Graceland built a five point lead after the half before Austin Regier scored six straight unanswered points to give Jewell it's first lead of the second half with 14 minutes remaining.  Jewell then built a 59-53 lead only to see Graceland tie things up at 59-59 with 9 minutes remaining.
 
The Cardinals then held the Yellowjackets to two points in a span of over four minutes to take control of the game. 
 
Jewell was aided by three point shots from Patrick Whelan and Matt Lassen.  Lassen's three was with the shot clock expiring that built Jewell's largest lead of the game 71-63 and the Cards held on from there for the win.

Whelan scored a game high 20 points while Austin Regier and Darius Tomlin poured in 17.  Lassen was the final Cardinal in double figures with 14.   Regier also pulled down 12 rebounds for his team leading fourth double double on the season. 
 
David Shepard led Graceland in scoring with 17.
 
The Cardinals will begin Great Lakes Valley Conference play on Thursday January 7 when they host No. 19 Bellarmine University at 7:30 p.m.