Feb. 12, 2011

Box Score

Painesville, Ohio - Grand Valley State continued its latest trend as the #22 Lakers played successfully from behind to knock off Lake Erie on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 12) by a 76-69 score in Painesville, Ohio. The Storm led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but GVSU battled back and captured its 17th victory of the season, including its second comeback win in the past eight days.

With the victory, Grand Valley State improves to 17-6 on the season and 12-4 in the GLIAC, while Lake Erie falls to 5-17 overall and just 1-14 in league play. The Lakers badly needed this win after falling at Ashland on Thursday night and the next three games against top conference opponents, Findlay, Wayne State, and Ferris State.

GVSU turned the game into its favor by making 28-of-34 free throws in the game for an 82.4 percentage, including 19-of-25 freebies in the second half. The 28 made free throws were the third-most for the Lakers in a game this season. Grand Valley State also led in bench points, (33-12) and points in the paint (32-24).

Lake Erie opened up with the game's first five points, but GVSU took its first lead of the game at 7-6 after an offensive rebound and three-pointer from senior Justin Ringler. The Storm took an 11-9 lead at the first media timeout and neither team scored for close to five minutes, as LEC still owned the two-point advantage at the second media timeout at 9:58 remaining.

Sophomore point guard Breland Hogan finally broke the scoreless streak with a pair of free throws and a driving layup on consecutive GVSU possessions, putting the Lakers ahead 13-11 at the 9:05 mark. With the Storm owning an 18-17 advantage, GVSU junior guard Wes Trammell converted an old-fashioned three-point play with a putback in front of the rim and a free throw. On the Lakers' next possession, Trammell swished the nets with a three-pointer, putting GVSU ahead 23-18 with 5:40 to play in the opening half after his own 6-0 run.

Late in the half, Hogan drained a trifecta with 36 ticks remaining to put Grand Valley State on top by a 30-28 score, but the Storm's Ethan Bradshaw answered with a triple of his own with seven seconds left. That three-pointer gave Lake Erie a 31-30 advantage heading into the halftime break. In the opening 20 minutes, GVSU shot 33.3 percent (9-of-27) from the field and just 3-of-10 from three-point range. The Lakers stayed in the game by making all nine free throw tries. LEC shot 37.9 percent from the floor and converted 4-of-11 three-point attempts, while also owning a 22-14 rebounding edge.

Ringler scored on an layup early in the second half to pull within 33-32, but Lake Erie scored nine of the next 10 points on a pair of three-pointers and an old-fashioned three-point play to lead 42-33. GVSU then got a short Ringler jumper that rolled around the rim and fell in, moving him into 10th place all-time in Laker history in points scored. Junior James Thomas followed with a layup to get the deficit down to 42-37 with 15:50 remaining.

Lake Erie pushed out to a 49-39 lead with a quick 7-2 run, but GVSU notched back-to-back buckets in 21 seconds on a driving layup from sophomore Tony Peters and a steal and fast break bucket from junior Alvin Storrs. That sequence made the score, 49-43, with just under 12 minutes to play. Grand Valley State continued to chip away with strong defense and made free throws, drawing within 54-52 before a Peters' three-pointer put GVSU back ahead by a 55-54 count.

The lead lasted just 20 seconds though as Bradshaw countered with a triple for Lake Erie, putting the Storm back up 57-55. Ringler then converted consecutive short jumpers in the paint to put the Lakers ahead by a 59-57 tally nearing the four-minute mark. After Bradshaw knocked down two free throws to tie the score at 59-59, the Lakers ran off an 8-0 spurt to finally open up some breathing room.

Storrs missed a short shot in the paint, pulled down his own rebound, and went back up for a layup that would give GVSU the lead for good. Ringler would then follow with back-to-back layups, moving him to ninth all-time in GVSU history in scoring. Two free throws from Trammell made the score 67-59 and put the Lakers in control with less than two minutes to play. The teams traded free throws the rest of the way, with LEC getting no closer than five points in the final minute.

Ringler was terrific in the second half, scoring 15 of his team-high 20 points in the final 20 minutes. He was 8-of-13 from the field, pulled down eight rebounds, and moved up to ninth all-time on the GVSU scoring list. Trammell joined him in double digits, as the southpaw notched 14 points in 21 minutes off the bench, helped by a 7-of-8 performance at the charity stripe.

Hogan supplied 12 points, making 3-of-6 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws. Peters made all four free throws and scored nine points, while Storrs added seven points. Freshman center Asauhn Tatum notched seven points, six boards, and a game-high three blocked shots.

The Lakers return home after this recent four-game road stretch for a 6:00 p.m. game on Thursday night (Feb. 17) against South Division leader and nationally-ranked Findlay.