Dec. 10, 2011

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Allendale, Mich. - Senior Nick Waddell had a double-double on Saturday (Dec. 10) afternoon that led the Lakers to a 62-53 win over visiting Rochester College. Waddell tallied 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the main factor for Grand Valley State in the victory.

Rochester actually led most of the way in the second half, scoring the game's first five points just over a minute into the contest. GVSU grabbed their first lead of the game at the 16:01 mark after Waddell hit two free throws to put the Lakers up 8-7. Rochester grabbed the lead back on a jumper two minutes later and extended their lead to four on three different occassions in the next six minutes as they held an 18-14 advantage. After senior James Thomas hit a jumper to draw the Lakers within two, Waddell hit another lay-up to tie the game up at 18 with 6:07 to play in the first half.

Rochester continued to keep the pressure on, going up 21-18 on another three pointer, one of five in the first half for the Warriors. The Lakers battled back to tie things up at 23 with 2:55 to play in the first half and finally took the lead for good with 1:38 to play as Waddell completed an old fashioned three point play to put the Lakers up 26-25. Waddell hit another lay-up with 1:07 left in the half and the Lakers went in to the locker room with a 28-25 advantage.

GVSU dominated the peripheral stats in the first half, taking the advantage in points in the paint (12-4), points off turnovers (10-6) and fast break points (3-0) but only led by three at the break. Waddell had 13 of the team's 28 first-half points. Rochester shot 50.0-percent in the half (9-of-18) including five three pointers on 10 attempts.

The second half was all GVSU right from the start. Only 16 seconds into the second half, Waddell hit a jumper to go up five and a Thomas trifecta made it a seven point game just seconds later. Thomas then hit a lay-up to push the lead out to 35-26 for the Lakers and after Rochester cut the lead to four, eight straight points by the Lakers put the game away, capped off by a nifty lay-up from sophomore Rob Woodson to make it a 49-37 game.

With GVSU up 52-44, the Lakers went on a 10 point run that was capped off by a Thomas dunk on a steal at mid-court and a lay-up from junior Breland Hogan to make it a 62-44 game as the Lakers cruised to a 62-53 victory. The Lakers got 22 of their 34 second-half points in the paint and had eight second chance points.

Waddell led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and had a game-high 11 rebounds. Thomas was the only other Laker in double figures, recording 14 points and grabbing six rebounds. GVSU held a demanding 36-22 advantage in rebounds, including a 14-2 advantage on the offensive glass.

Rochester was led by Dramel Hogan, who had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and seven rebounds, both team-highs for the Warriors.

GVSU moves to 5-2 on the year with the victory and will be back in action on Sunday, December 18th at 1 p.m. for a home contest against Northern Michigan at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. Rochester fell to 9-5 with the loss.