Jan. 14, 2012

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Allendale, Mich. - The Laker men's basketball team battled #18 Hillsdale and held a two point halftime lead, but the Chargers responded by shooting 52.6 percent in the second half en route to a 60-50 victory.

In front of a season-high 2,223 fans at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena, the two teams got off to hot starts, particularly the home team. After the squads exchanged three pointers to open the scoring, the Lakers used a 12-3 run to go up 15-6 at the 11:07 mark of the first half after a layup from junior Tony Peters.

GVSU had a game-high nine point advantage at 18-9 following a trifecta from Peters at the 10:05 mark, but Hillsdale then went on a run of 11 straight points to take their first lead of the game at 20-18.

The Lakers tied it up at 20 just seconds later but the Chargers moved their lead out to four points at 24-20. Again, the Lakers battled back, and a jumper from junior Breland Hogan with 17 seconds to play put GVSU back ahead 30-28. With 1.6 seconds left in the first half, Hillsdale stepped on the endline to turn the ball over and a full court pass from freshman Ryan Sabin to junior Tyrone Lee on the block at the opposite end was completed, but Lee just missed out on the layup and the Lakers took their two point lead in to the locker rooms.

Hillsdale and GVSU both shot well in the first half as the Lakers hit 42.9 percent of their field goals while Hillsdale was making them at a 47.1 percent clip. The biggest disparity of the first half, which would turn out to get even bigger in the second half, was Hillsdale holding a 12-4 advantage in free throws attempted as the Lakers were whistled for nine first half fouls, including a technical. GVSU held a 14-4 advantage in bench points, mostly thanks to senior Nick Waddell's eight first half points to go with five rebounds.

Hillsdale wasted no time in the second half taking back the lead. A jumper tied the game at 30 one minute in and started a nine point Charger run that extended the lead out to 37-30 for Hillsdale. The Chargers pushed their lead out to a game-high 17 points with only seven minutes to play in the game at 54-37, with the Lakers only scoring seven points in the second half after 13 minutes of play.

GVSU went on a 13-4 run after that, cutting the lead back down to eight with 51 seconds to play, but they couldn't complete the comeback.

GVSU shot only 25 percent in the second half (8-for-32) compared to Hillsdale's 52.6 percent (10-for-19). After only four free throw attempts in the opening half, the Lakers duplicated that number in the second half, finishing the game with eight free throw attempts compared to Hillsdale's 26 attempts.

The Lakers were led by Waddell's near double-double as he had nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. Peters was the only GVSU player in double figures as he had 10 points while Lee had seven rebounds. Hogan and Sabin each had three steals in the game.

Hillsdale was led by Brad Guinane's 15 points and seven rebounds.

GVSU falls to 9-6 on the year with a 5-4 mark in the GLIAC while Hillsdale improves to 15-1 overall and 9-0 in the conference.

The Lakers will go on their annual upper peninsula trip next, beginning on Thursday (Jan. 19) when they take on Northern Michigan in Marquette, Mich. for a 7:30 p.m. tip.