Jan. 24, 2009

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ALLENDALE, Mich. - Grand Valley State rallied from a 10-point deficit and held on late to defeat Wayne State 58-55 on Saturday afternoon in the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. Sophomore forward Toreau Brown (Detroit, Mich.) recorded a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in the winning effort.

The Lakers (13-4, 8-4 GLIAC) were down five points after the first half and did not regain the lead until the 8:50 mark of the second half. The Warriors (6-10, 4-8 GLIAC) overcame a nine-point deficit late in the second half, but a potential game-tying three at the buzzer was blocked by sophomore guard/forward Justin Ringler (Reed City, Mich.), giving the Lakers a 58-55 win.

Grand Valley State scored 12 of its first 15 points in the paint, capped off by a layup by sophomore center Anthony Ianni (Lansing, Mich.) which made the score 15-10 in favor of the Lakers at the 13:47 mark. Wayne State took the lead with a three-pointer from Bryan Edwards with 8:55 remaining in the first half and held onto it for the rest of the stanza.

The Warriors rattled off six consecutive points to make the score 24-16 after a jumper with Edwards at the 6:31 mark. Edwards finished with nine points and nine rebounds before fouling out. A three-pointer from Bryan Wright with 3:25 left in the half gave WSU its biggest lead of the day at 31-21. GVSU cut into that lead with five points to close out the half, as Ringler hit two jumpers to make the score 31-26 at the half. Ringler finished with a team-high 17 points with seven rebounds and four assists.

WSU shot 47.8 percent in the first half while GVSU shot 34.5 percent. The Lakers were also 0-for-2 from the three-point line, while Wayne State was 4-of-12. The Warriors got 13 points from their bench, while GVSU dominated inside, scoring 16 points in the paint.

Senior forward Pete Trammell (Jenison, Mich.), who finished with 14 points on the day, scored the first four points of the second half to bring the Lakers to within one at 31-30. The teams traded baskets until senior forward Bobby Tiernan (Saline, Mich.) scored on a layup to give GVSU a 43-42 edge on the scoreboard. He added the free throw for a traditional three-point play.

Back-to-back baskets by freshman guard Wes Trammell (Jenison, Mich.), followed by two Laker free throws gave GVSU an eight-point lead with 4:51 left on the clock. Two free throws from the older Trammell made it a nine-point game, 56-47, with just 3:36 remaining. After missed free throws by Grand Valley State, the Warriors made it a one-possession game after a layup by Bryan Wright with 14 seconds left in the game. Wright finished with a game-high 21 points, but his three-pointer at the buzzer was blocked by Ringler to end the game.

The Lakers finished the game shooting 41.3 percent from the floor while Wayne State was 20-of-50 for a 40 percent shooting performance. The Lakers scored 28 points in the paint compared to Wayne State's 16, while the Warriors held a 32-10 advantage in bench points. The Lakers grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and scored 16 second-chance points for the win.