Feb. 18, 2006

Box Score

Hillsdale, Mich. - Grand Valley State junior forward Mike Hall scored a season-high 21 points and sophomore center Callistus Eziukwu tallied a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Lakers to a 72-56 GLIAC victory at Hillsale College. GVSU has won 12 straight games and 17-of-18. The Lakers' 12-game winning streak is a school-record in terms of NCAA DII play. GVSU won 21 straight games during the 1976-77 season as an NAIA member.

Mike Hall hit a jumper to give the Lakers a 4-3 lead and sparked a 15-2 scoring run. Hillsdale cut into the GVSU lead and trailed by six (28-22), but a layup by Eziukwu, a three-pointer by Courtney James and a three-point play by Hall gave the Lakers a 36-23 lead with just under three minutes in the opening stanza. HC scored the opening two points of the second half, but a pair of layups by Hall and a three-pointer by Pete Trammell gave the Lakers a 17 point lead (45-28). Hillsdale went on a 14-4 run of their own and found themselves down by just seven (49-42) with 11:35 left. Leading 55-47, Hall started an 8-0 run with a bucket in the paint. Courtney James gave GVSU its largest lead of the game (72-52) with a jumper at the 1:22 mark.

Grand Valley State shot 51.9 percent from the floor and limited Hillsdale to just 36.8 percent from the floor. The Lakers outrebounded the Chargers 38-27, and converted 7-of-14 three-pointers. Hillsdale hit just 6-of-27 three-pointers on its home floor. In addition to a 21-point, 9-rebound outing by Mike Hall, Courtney James scored 16 points.

Notes...GVSU has held 18-of-25 opponents under 66 points and 15 of 25 under 56 points this season...The Lakers are yielding just 57.2 points overall on the year. In addition, GVSU has held 37-of-53 opponents under 67 points during the Ric Wesley era.

A balanced attack has allowed the Lakers to have just seven individual scoring games of 20 points or more on the year. (Jamerson 3, Eziukwu 2, Trammell 1, Hall 1)...Three Lakers have led GVSU in scoring in consecutive games a total of seven times this season. Jamerson has done it four times, followed by Eziukwu (2) and Hall (1)...Seven different players have led GVSU in scoring this season and those seven are the top seven scorers on the squad...Eziukwu has led GVSU in rebounding 11 times, followed by Jamerson (7), Trammell and Hall (3)...Courtney James has led the Lakers in assists 15 times, while Eziukwu is second with five games as the top dealer.