Nov. 15, 2008

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Allendale, Mich. - Sophomore center Mike Przydzial scored a career-high 19 points for #15 Grand Valley State en route to a 77-65 season-opening win over Davenport (5-1) Saturday afternoon at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena before a crowd of 1,501. GVSU has now won 35 straight regular season games and 34 straight games in the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena.

GVSU jumped out to a 20-15 lead at the 11:43 mark of the first half, but Davenport clawed its way back and tied the game at 23-23 with 7:54 left in the opening 20 minutes. Davenport took a 26-23 lead on a Kyle Waaso three-pointer and built a 30-25 lead with 2:54 remaining in the fist stanza. However, sophomore K'Len Morris hit a pair of free throws, followed by a Morris layup to pull the Lakers within one (30-29). Freshman forward Nick West gave the Lakers a 31-30 lead, but the Panthers took a 32-31 lead on a tipin. Justin Ringler hit a pair of free throws with 2.5 seconds left to give GVSU a 33-32 halftime lead.

Sophomore cneter Toreau Brown scored in the paint to give the Lakers a 48-43 lead with 14:31 and Przydzial scored on a three-point play to up the Laker advantage to 51-43 with 14:01 left in the game. Przydzial hit a pair of free throws to give GVSU its first double-digit lead (54-43). The Lakers led by as many as 15 points (72-57) when Brown scored in the paint with 3:08 remaining in the game. Laker sophomore Anthony Ianni put the finishing touches on the win with the final points for GVSU with a bucket in final minute.

Przydzial led GVSU with 19 points, including a 13-for-14 afternoon from the charity stripe. Morris added 13 points, while Ringler chipped in nine. Eight players scored five points or more for GVSU. Senior Jerret Smith dishd out a team-high five assistsThe Lakers shot 51.2 percent from the floor (21-for-41) and 80.6 percent from the charity stripe (29-for-36).

Grand Valley State will host Lake Erie College Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m.