Jan. 6, 2011

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Allendale, Mich. - In returning home for the first time in exactly one month, #15 Grand Valley State continued its perfect record at Fieldhouse Arena, as the Lakers dispatched of Saginaw Valley State by an 82-60 final on Thursday night (Jan. 6). The Lakers turned the ball over a season-low five times and knocked down 11-of-20 three-pointers in winning their sixth straight conference game.

The victory puts GVSU at 11-2 on the year and 6-0 in GLIAC play, while Saginaw Valley State falls to 4-7 overall and 0-5 in the conference. Grand Valley State has won all seven home games this season and nine in a row dating back to last season, but the Lakers had not played at home since a 79-45 victory over Olivet on Dec. 6 in Allendale. The Lakers went on the road for five straight games from Dec. 9 to Dec. 31 and went 4-1 in that stretch.

Hot shooting and very few miscues were the main reasons for Thursday night's victory over the Cardinals. GVSU shot 55.4 percent from the field and made 11 three-pointers, while committing just five turnovers in the ballgame. The Laker defense also held Saginaw Valley State to 38.9 percent shooting and only 9-of-24 from long range, while also forcing 11 Cardinal mistakes. Grand Valley State owned large leads in points in the paint (30-16), bench points (36-21), points off turnovers (17-8), and scored the game's only nine fast break points.

On Thursday night, GVSU got off to a strong start by scoring the first seven points of the game on a dunk from freshman Asauhn Tatum, a layup from senior Justin Ringler, and an old-fashioned three-point play from sophomore Breland Hogan. Saginaw Valley State crawled back to within 15-12 at the 13:19 mark and kept the score close at 20-16 with 10:09 left before the Lakers unleashed their three-point fury.

First, it was junior Alvin Storrs who drained a three-pointer at the 9:29 mark and Hogan responded with a triple of his own a minute later to build the lead to 26-18. Senior K'Len Morris then held his own three-point contest, making trifectas on three straight Laker possessions and giving GVSU a 35-20 lead. From that point on, the Cardinals were simply trying to play catch-up against the Lakers. Going into halftime, Grand Valley State led by a dozen points, 44-32.

Storrs and Ringler connected on back-to-back buckets early in the second half, building a 16-point cushion with 18:29 left to play in the game. SVSU whiddled the deficit down to seven points at 53-46 before junior Wes Trammell knocked down a three-pointer to push back out to a double-digit advantage. After a Cardinal trifecta, the Lakers scored 11 of the game's next 12 points and took a 68-50 advantage with just over eight minutes remaining.

During that run, sophomore Nick Carreri scored on a layup, Storrs added a jumper and a three-pointer, Tatum scored on a lay-in, and Ringler's jumper at the 8:14 mark put GVSU ahead by 18 points. Again, Saginaw Valley State would not go away, cutting the Laker lead down to 13 points, but pairs of free throws from Ringler and junior Nick Waddell, along with a three-pointer from Trammell and a jumper by Waddell built up a 22-point cushion (77-55) that would be far too much for the Cardinals.

Storrs played a terrific all-around game, totaling a team-best 17 points, as he shot 7-of-9 from the field and made 3-of-4 three-point attempts. The team's top defender, Storrs recorded a season-best five steals to go with a pair of blocks and he also dished out three assists with only one turnover in a team-best 27 minutes of action.

Waddell provided 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench, as he shot 5-of-8 from the field. Ringler also added 12 points and tied a season-high with five assists. He pulled down four boards and also had just one turnover in 26 minutes. Trammell and Morris each tallied nine points, as both players buried three triples apiece. Tatum scored four points to go with four rebounds, but made his mark defensively, rejecting three Cardinal shots.

The Lakers return to action on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 8), as GVSU welcomes in Lake Superior State for a 1:00 p.m. conference battle in Fieldhouse Arena.