March 15, 2008

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Allendale, Mich. - #1 Grand Valley State claimed a 69-52 victory over St. Joseph's College Saturday night in an NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional quarterfinal contest. Grand Valley State (34-0) will square off in a semifinal contest Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. versus Northern Kentucky Unviversity (21-7). Gannon will play Findlay in the first semifinal contest Sunday night at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Grand Valley State Athletic Ticket office will begin selling tickets for the Sunday's semifinals at 1 p.m. in the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena.

St. Joseph's College hung tough for the entire first half and held a 21-20 lead with a pair of free throws by Andrew Helmer with 5:29 left in the first half. However, a Bobby Tiernan layup put the Lakers up for good (22-21) at the 5:12 mark. Senior guard L.J. Kilgore followed with a three-pointer to give GVSU a 25-21 advantage. GVSU led 27-25 with 58 seconds left in the first half when senior guard Jason Jamerson hit a three-point. Jamerson drilled another three-pointer with 46 ticks left and freshman forward Justin Ringler hit a pair of free throws with one second left in the first half to build the GVSU lead to 10 (35-25).

St. Joseph's hit the opening bucket of the second half, but senior center Callistus Eziukwu scored on two layups and a dunk to up the Laker lead to 41-27. Back-to-back three's by the Pumas cut the GVSU down to eight, but four quick points from Eziukwu built the lead back to 12 (45-33). Jamerson hit a three and Eziukwu hit another shot in the paint for a 50-35 Laker lead. Grand Valley State led 60-41 on a tip-in from Eziukwu with 8:39 remaining in the game.

Eziukwu led GVSU with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Jamerson added 20 points and seven boards. Freshman forward Justin Ringler chipped in four points and six rebounds, while Tiernan added five points and three rebounds. GVSU shot just 42.6 percent from the floor, but held St. Joseph's to just 31.7 percent from the floor. GVSU hit 7-of-16 from three-point range and 16-of-20 from the charity stripe.

Notes... The GVSU senior class is 10-4 all-time in postseason action, including a 4-2 mark in NCAA Tournament action...Grand Valley State has won a school-record 34 straight games. GVSU is the first collegiate basketball team in state of Michigan history to go 30-0 in the regular season. In addition, the Lakers have won 31 straight home games...The last three years GVSU has had winning streaks that have spanned 17 (2005-06), 14 (2006-07) and 34 games (2007-08) under Wesley...The GVSU senior class is 108-19..GVSU is 90-9 since the 2005-06 season overall, including a 49-5 record in GLIAC action.

Grand Valley State is 63-4 at home the last four years, including a current 31-game winning streak. GVSU is 50-1 in its last 50 home games...GVSU has been known for defense during the Ric Wesley era. GVSU has held 96-of-its-127 opponents under 67 points. 74 opponents have scored less than 60 points and 36 have tallied 50 points or less. The Lakers currently lead the nation in Scoring Defense - 53.8 ppg. and Field Goal Percentage Defense - 36.3 percent...GVSU has held 24-of-34 foes under 55 points, including 10 under 50 points...GVSU has held 7-of-his-last-16 opponents under 50 points and prior to the FSU game GVSU had held 15 straight under 58 points.