Feb. 12, 2009

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Allendale, Mich. - Trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half on Thursday night (Feb. 12), Grand Valley State rallied to tie the game, then scored the final eight points of the contest to pull off a 63-57 victory over Northern Michigan. The win was GVSU's seventh straight at Fieldhouse Arena, as the Lakers improve to 16-6 overall, 11-6 in GLIAC play.

Grand Valley State broke its two-game losing streak, which included a seven-point defeat at #1 Findlay and an overtime loss at Hillsdale last weekend. The Lakers, which trailed 41-28 at the 14:46 mark, responded with a 35-16 run to close out the Wildcats (11-11, 6-11 GLIAC), who brought a two-game road winning stretch into the game.

The teams were tied, 26-26, at halftime even though GVSU owned a 19-11 advantage with seven minutes remaining in the opening session. After trailing 11-9, a layup from Anthony Ianni tied the score and four points from both sophomores Toreau Brown and Justin Ringler gave the Lakers their biggest lead of the game.

In the opening frame, both teams shot around the 40.0 percent mark, with GVSU knocking down 41.7 of its shots (10-of-24) and the Wildcats recording a 40.9 clip (9-of-22). The Lakers owned an 18-4 advantage in points in the paint, while NMU drained 6-of-12 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

Northern Michigan came out in the second half and put together a 15-2 run in the first five minutes to extend its lead to 13 points at 41-28. Grand Valley State then started its comeback with five points from senior forward Pete Trammell in five seconds. Trammell connected on a pair of freebies at the 13:59 mark. On the ensuing inbounds pass, NMU guard Austin Rowe stepped over the out-of-bounds line, giving the ball back to the Lakers. Senior Bobby Tiernan fed Trammell in the corner off the inbounds play and the most recent addition to the 1,000-point club drained GVSU's first three-pointer of the game.

A triple from freshman Alvin Storrs at the 11:23 mark brought the Lakers within three points at 44-41, but NMU answered with a quick 5-0 run. GVSU continued to climb back and tied the game on a layup from Brown at the 3:04 mark, 55-55. The Wildcats would re-gain the lead on a layup from Kyle Greene 21 seconds later, but those would be the final points for NMU.

With 2:07 remaining, Ringler tied the score with a pair of free throws. 20 seconds later, Storrs split two freebies, which was followed by Trammell's steal and dunk on the other end, putting GVSU ahead 60-57 with 1:27 left. On the next Laker possession with the shot clock running down, Jerret Smith had his fallaway jumper rim in and out, while Ringler tipped in the missed shot, icing the game for Grand Valley State with 27 seconds left.

For the game, GVSU shot 47.8 percent from the field and knocked down 3-of-6 three-pointers. The Lakers did their damage in the paint, owning a 32-12 edge in the key, while Northern Michigan connected on 12-of-27 triples. Grand Valley State also won the rebounding battle, 37-26.

Ringler and Brown shared game-high scoring honors with 17 points apiece. Brown was 5-of-8 from the floor and added a game-best nine rebounds. Ringler put up a solid statline with five rebounds, five assists, two steals, while shooting 7-of-9 from the field. Storrs also cracked double-digits with 11 points and totaled three steals.

The Lakers return to the floor against Michigan Tech on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14) at 3:00 p.m. Earlier in the season in Houghton, GVSU escaped with a 79-77 victory during its six-game winning streak.