Nov. 17, 2007

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Allendale, Mich. - #3 Grand Valley State withstood a second half rally by Missouri-St. Louis Saturday afternoon and held on for a 62-53 victory. GVSU (4-0) will host Kalamazoo College Tuesday night at 8 p.m.

Grand Valley State came out strong, building a 9-0 lead before Missouri-St. Louis got on the board with 6:58 gone in the first half. UMSL didn't make its first basket until Paul Paradoski hit a three-pointer with 10:57 remaining in the opening stanza. The Tritons pulled to within four (24-20), but a three-pointer by sophomore guard David Thompson and a layup by freshman Toreau Brown upped the GVSU to nine (29-20) at the half. UMSL scored the first two points of the second half, but GVSU went on a 12-2 run to build a 41-24 lead. Senior center Callistus Eziukwu (5 points), junior forward Pete Trammell (5 points) and senior guard Jason Jameron (2 points) each contributed to the scoring run. However, Missouri-St. Louis, trailing 44-28 with 11:41 left in the game, went on an 18-6 run and puled to within four (50-46) with 6:41 left in the game. A dunk by Eziukwu and a three-pointer by Jamerson upped the Laker lead to nine (55-46) with 4:34 left. UMSL again cut the GVSU lead down to four, but another three by Jamerson gave the Lakers a 60-53 lead with 1:06 remaining.

Callistus Eziukwu led Grand Valley State with 17 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots. Jason Jamerson added 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half, and a game-high seven assists. Pete Trammell scored nine points and David Thompson added eight. GVSU shot 50 percent from the floor (22-44), while UMSL hit just 40.7 percent from the floor.