Jan. 8, 2011

Box Score

Allendale, Mich. - In a terrific all-around team effort, #15 Grand Valley State continued rolling through the early part of the season with a 76-38 blowout of visiting Lake Superior State on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 8) in Allendale. The hometown Lakers connected on a dozen three-pointers in the game, owned a 42-13 edge in bench points, and held LSSU to just 22.4 percent shooting in the team's 10th straight home victory, dating back to last season.

The win pushes GVSU to 12-2 on the year and a perfect 7-0 record in GLIAC play, while Lake Superior State falls to 8-5 this season and 2-4 in the league. Grand Valley State has won all eight home games in 2010-11 and its closest home conference game was the 22-point win over Saginaw Valley State on Thursday night. The win over LSSU on Saturday came with a few career-high performances for several GVSU players.

Overall, Grand Valley State shot just 37.3 percent from the field, but connected at a 48.0 percent clip from three-point range, making 12-of-25 triple tries. GVSU also was proficient at the charity stripe, knocking down 20-of-26 free throws for a 76.9 percentage. Lake Superior State struggled all day and from every spot on the floor. The visiting Lakers shot 22.4 percent from the field, made just 3-of-15 three-point attempts (20.0 percent), and converted 13-of-19 free throw shots (68.4 percent). It is the second time this season and twice in the last three games that GVSU has held an opponent under 40 points, giving up just 31 to Southwestern on Dec. 31.

The home Lakers scored the first six points of the game, but freshman center Asauhn Tatum also made his presence known early in the contest, on both ends of the floor. Tatum rejected an LSSU shot and scored on a layup in the first 55 seconds of the game and blocked another shot just 15 seconds later. Sophomore Breland Hogan drained a three-pointer at the 15:37 mark, putting the home team up 6-0. Lake Superior State finally scored with 15:27 remaining on a trifecta, but GVSU responded with an 11-2 run that opened up the game.

Sophomore Tony Peters nailed a three-pointer and junior Wes Trammell followed with a pair of trifectas from long distance and Grand Valley State would lead 17-5 less than eight minutes into the game. Lake Superior State would whittle away at the deficit and trail just 23-16 at the 4:46 mark before GVSU would notch a game-changing 10-0 run. Senior Justin Ringler made a three-pointer and scored on a jumper soon after, sophomore Nick Carreri converted a layup, and Hogan knocked down another trifecta for a 33-16 home Laker lead. Grand Valley State took a 33-18 lead into halftime.

GVSU kept up its strong play early in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the final 20 minutes. Again, it was Tatum (who had four first-half blocks) who scored early with a layup and started the run. Hogan followed with his third triple of the game and Ringler scored on a layup. Less than a minute later, Ringler converted a layup and was followed, making the free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play. Those three points gave him 1,300 for his career and tied him for 17th place all-time in GVSU history in points scored. Those would be Ringler's final points of the game, putting Grand Valley State up 43-18.

The home Laker lead would continue to inflate, moving to 34 points after three free throws (two from junior Alvin Storrs) on a foul and a technical foul on LSSU. At that point, GVSU was ahead by a 60-26 tally at the 8:22 mark. Hogan then made his fourth three-pointer (a career-high) in as many attempts, upping the lead to 63-27. An 8-0 run pushed the lead out to 44 points at 72-28, the team's biggest advantage of the game.

Trammell led all scorers by totaling 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting, making 4-of-8 three-point attempts. He also dished out four assists in 20 minutes off the bench, finishing just two points shy of his career-high. Hogan ended the game a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range and scored 12 points with three boards and a pair of assists, while Ringler added 11 points and five rebounds.

Carreri played very well off the GVSU bench, pulling down a game-high and career-high 10 rebounds. His double-digit rebound total tied for the Laker season-high for an individual. Carreri added seven points, while seven of his boards came on the offensive end. Tatum finished the game with a career-high seven blocked shots, which had not been done at GVSU since former Laker Callistus Eziukwu blcoked seven shots against Gannon on Jan. 19, 2008. Peters scored eight points on Saturday, while Storrs recorded seven rebounds.

Grand Valley State will host Northwood next Wednesday (Jan. 12) in GVSU Fieldhouse Arena in a game that will start at 6:00 p.m.