Dec. 3, 2011

Box Score

Tiffin, Ohio - Grand Valley State claimed a 76-57 GLIAC road win at Tiffin Saturday (Dec. 3) afternoon. GVSU improves to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in GLIAC action, while Tiffin falls to 4-4 overall and 0-2 in GLIAC play. GVSU will be at Northwood Thursday (Dec. 7) for a third straight GLIAC road tilt.

Freshman forward Ben Lanning got the Lakers off to a good start with a three-pointer just 10 seconds into the game. Neither squad was able to build much of a lead through the first six minutes, however, when senior center Nick Waddell hit a layup at the 13:58 mark the Lakers had a lead they would never give up. Senior guard James Thomas hit a jumper to give GVSU a 27-18 lead at the 8:57 mark of the opening stanza. Freshman guard Ryan Sabin hit a pair of three-pointers in the final 2:30 of the first half and a jumper by junior guard Breland Hogan with just two seconds left gave the Lakers their largest lead (42-31) of the first half.

Tiffin cut the Laker lead down to five (44-39) at the 15:14 mark of the final 20 minutes, but a free throw from Sabin and a three-pointer from Thomas upped the lead to nine (48-39). Sabin added his third three-pointer of the game to give GVSU a 51-39 lead just moments later. Tiffin would not go away and went on a 7-0 run of their own to pull back to within five (51-46) with 9:30 left in the game, but a 13-0 run from the Lakers over a five minute span sealed the win. Waddell scored four straight, followed by a pair of free throws by junior Tyrone Lee. Thomas slammed home a dunk following a steal by Lee, then hit a three-pointer. Waddell closed the run with a jumper to give the Lakers a 64-46 lead with 4:08 left. Hogan's free throws in the closing minute gave GVSU its largest lead of the game (76-55).

Waddell picked up the first double-double of his career with a career-highs in points (20) and rebounds (10). Thomas scored 15 points and hit three treys, while Sabin scored a career-high 10 points with three treys of his own. Hogan scored nine points and dished out a team-high five assists, while Josh Anderson also put nine in the scoring column. GVSU turned the ball over just eight times, while forcing Tiffin into 15 miscues. The Lakers hit 52.4 percent from three-point land (11-21) and outrebounded the Dragon 38-28. Grand Valley State scored 16 points off Tiffin turnovers.