Jan. 17, 2009

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Allendale, Mich. - #21 Grand Valley State, playing its fifth game in nine days, claimed a convincing 89-54 GLIAC victory over Tiffin Saturday afternoon at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. GVSU improves to 11-4 overall and 6-4 in GLIAC action. The Lakers will host Northwood Thursday, January 22 at 8 p.m.

Freshman center Nick West scored first for Grand Valley State as he converted a three-point play just 18 seconds into the game. The opening six minutes saw five ties and five lead changes until the Dragons took a 14-11 lead on a three-pointer by Brian Scott. Tiffin eventually built a 21-15 lead with 11:06 remaining in the opening half, but an Alvin Storrs three-point play cut the lead to three (21-18). Toreau Brown gave the Lakers a 24-23 lead with 8:57 left and when senior forward Pete Trammell hit a pair from the charity stripe GVSU held a 28-23 advantage. Tiffin clawed its way back and reclaimed the lead (32-31) with 4:10 left in the opening half. Sophomore forward Mike Przydzial tied the game with a free throw and senior forward Bobby Tiernan gave GVSU lead for good with a layup. Storrs hit a three to give the Lakers a 37-32 lead, but Tiffin's Alex Strok hit a jumper with 1:59 left in the half. Tiffin would get no closer as GVSU closed the half with a 7-0 run to take a 44-34 lead into the lockerroom.

Freshman guard Wes Trammell opened the scoring in the second half with a jumper in the paint and the Lakers were off an running. GVSU scored the first 15 points of the second half and combined with the final seven points of the first half Grand Valley State had put together a 22-0 run. Tiffin went 8:02 with a point until Rafael Cuellar hit a free throw with 14:01 left in the game. Grand Valley State scored eight more points in a row and outscored Tiffin 30-1 over a span of 12:07 until Tiffin notched its first bucket in more than 12 minutes at the 9:53 mark of the second half.

GVSU continued the rout and led by as many as 37 points in the second half. GVSU outscored Tiffin 48-14 in the paint and the Laker bench outscored the Dragons 34-18. Sophomore Justin Ringler led the Lakers with a game-high 19 points and six rebounds. Senior forward Pete Trammell scored 14 points, while freshman guard Wes Trammell added 11 points. Sophomore center Anthony Ianni scored a career-high 10 points, while senior forward Bobby Tiernan pulled down an career-high seven rebounds. GVSU hit 62.0 percent of its shots from the floor (31-for-50) and converted 24-of-36 from the charity stripe. GVSU also outrebounded Tiffin 40-27. The Lakers also tallied a season-high 16 steals.