Jan. 10, 2009

Box Score

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. - #15 Grand Valley State was outscored by 20 points in the opening half on Saturday (Jan. 10) and was unable to complete its second-half comeback, falling at Lake Superior State, 79-66. Grand Valley State, which cut the lead to single digits late in the game, had its three-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 9-3 overall and 4-3 in the conference.

The loss is GVSU's first since falling to top-ranked Findlay on Dec. 13 in Fieldhouse Arena. Grand Valley State, which sports an impressive 7-1 home record, is now 2-2 away from Allendale.

Lake Superior State (8-5 overall, 5-3 GLIAC) shot the lights out in the opening half, outscoring GVSU, 42-22, in the first 20 minutes. After a pair of free throws from senior forward Pete Trammell put Grand Valley State ahead 4-2, LSSU went on a 19-2 run, and extended its lead to 21-6 on the strength of four three-pointers.

GVSU cut the lead to 23-10 on a jumper by sophomore Justin Ringler, but Lake Superior State continued to scorch the nets with its hot shooting. LSSU would end the first half with nine three-pointers and shot 56.3 (9-of-16) from long distance. Nine of Lake Superior State's 14 first-half field goals were from beyond the three-point arc.

In the second half, Grand Valley State would chip away at the LSSU lead and cut the score to 64-54 with 5:17 remaining with an old-fashioned three-point play from freshman guard Alvin Storrs. GVSU was able to get the lead within single digits when senior Bobby Tiernan hit a jumper with 1:42 left in the game to make the score, 73-64. However, Lake Superior State closed the game by scoring six of the final eight points.

LSSU connected on 11 three-pointers, shooting 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from long distance. Lake Superior State shot 45.1 percent from the field, while making 91.7 percent (22-of-24) of its attempts from the charity stripe. Grand Valley State was just unable to match those figures, although it did shoot 41.5 percent from the floor and knocked down 17-of-22 free throws.

Sophomore guard K'Len Morris totaled a career-high 18 points, as he shot 6-of-11 from the floor and made three three-pointers. Morris added four rebounds and three steals in 23 minutes off the bench. Fellow sophomore Toreau Brown notched 16 points (one off his career-high) on 8-of-14 shooting and pulled down four rebounds. Trammell tallied a team-high six rebounds.

Grand Valley State travels to West Michigan rival Ferris State on Monday (Jan. 12) for an 8:00 p.m. match-up with the Bulldogs. On Dec. 1 at Fieldhouse Arena, the Lakers defeated FSU, 72-62, behind a career-high 28 points from Trammell.