Feb. 11, 2012

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Allendale, Mich. - Grand Valley State closed out its four-game homestand in solid fashion on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 11) in Allendale, holding off a scrappy Lake Erie team in the final minutes by a 64-57 score. The Lakers pushed out to an 11-point lead in the second half and finished off the Storm late in the game, winning all four games during the team's homestand over the past two weeks.

The victory puts GVSU at 14-9 overall and 10-6 in GLIAC play. After a tough month of January, the Lakers have rebounded to win their last four contests, all coming in Fieldhouse Arena since Feb. 2. It is the team's longest win streak of the season. Lake Erie falls to 8-14 overall and 3-12 in the league.

A back-and-forth first half saw the score tied six times and the lead change hands on six occasions. Both teams struggled to find their groove offensively on the opening minutes, as GVSU scored the only points in the first five minutes, leading 4-0 on buckets from junior Tyrone Lee and senior Mike Przydzial. That would set the tone for a first half in which neither team would lead by more than four points.

Lake Erie's Riley Thomas would knock down a jumper at the 5:08 mark of the first half to make the score 19-18, in what would be the Storm's final lead of the game. Junior point guard Breland Hogan hit a jumper with 1:22 to play in the half put the Lakers ahead 25-23 and that would be the score at intermission.

GVSU was 7-2 entering the game when leading at the half in home games, while Lake Erie was 0-5 when trailing at the half on the road. The Lakers made sure to continue both trends by starting strong in the second half.

After Lake Erie got back to within a bucket at 31-29 with 15:28 to play, senior guard James Thomas, the reigning GLIAC North Division Player of the Week, took over. His three-pointer at 14:11 would be answered by another Thomas trifecta with 13:26 to play for consecutive triples on back-to-back Laker possessions. Less than a minute later, Thomas scored on a tough jumper in the paint for his own 8-0 run that pushed GVSU out to a 39-29 advantage.

Unfortunately the Lakers weren't able to put the game away, as the Storm hung around and kept the game close. After GVSU took its biggest lead of the game at 49-38 with 6:48 to play, Lake Erie quickly answered and drew the score to 52-48 at the 4:47 mark.

A pair of free throws from LEC's Rich Austin with 2:53 to go made the score 53-51. On the very next Laker possession, however, freshman guard Ryan Sabin drilled a huge three-pointer from the right corner, putting GVSU ahead by a 56-51 count. After Austin split a pair of free throws with 1:47 to play, Hogan lobbed a pass towards the hoop for junior Tony Peters. It appeared to be an alley-oop pass, but Peters made sure to come down with the ball and go back up strong, scoring the bucket with 1:21 to play and giving the Lakers a 58-52 lead. Those were Peters' only points of the game, but came at a crucial time for Grand Valley State.

Lake Erie's Thomas drilled a three-pointer with 28 ticks left to cut it to a 60-57 score before GVSU's Thomas converted both free throws to up the lead to 62-57. On the Storm's next possession, Brandon Smith's jumper was rejected by Lee on a huge Laker defensive stop. Hogan corralled the rebound, drained a pair of free throws, and GVSU had won its fourth straight game and improve to 9-3 at home this year.

Four Lakers reached double figures, led by Thomas, who paced GVSU with 17 points and seven rebounds. He was 6-of-14 from the field and made 3-of-6 three-pointers. Senior Nick Waddell supplied 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while pulling down four boards.

Lee put together one of his best games in a Laker uniform, totaling a career-best 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. That was only half the story, though, as Lee added game-highs of eight rebounds (three offensive), three steals, and two blocks. Sabin also added 10 points into the scoring column for the Lakers, making 2-of-3 three-pointers. Hogan provided a strong game of nine points, six assists, five rebounds, and did not commit a turnover. In the last seven games, Hogan has tallied 34 assists and just six turnovers.

Lake Erie was led by Austin and Thomas, as each played tallied a game-high 19 points. Austin was 5-of-10 from the field and 9-of-10 from the line, while Thomas was 7-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

GVSU shot 50.0 percent from the floor (22-of-44) and made 5-of-12 three-pointers. The Lakers converted 15-of-20 shots at the free throw line. Lake Erie made 42.9 percent of its field goals (18-of-42) and 15-of-17 free throws. Grand Valley State won all five speciality categories, including points in the paint (26-8), bench points (24-8), and second chance points (10-3).

After four straight home games, the Lakers head back onto the road for a pair of tough GLIAC contests next week. GVSU is at Findlay next Thursday night (Feb. 16) at 8:00 p.m. before meeting up with Wayne State on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 18) at 3:00 p.m. Those are the team's final regular season road games of the season.