Feb. 16, 2012

Box Score

Findlay, Ohio - The Grand Valley State men's basketball team was looking to hand Findlay just the fourth loss on their home floor in the last nine years, but it was the Oilers extending their GLIAC home winning streak to 75 straight games with a 68-57 victory on Thursday (Feb. 16) evening.

It was a promising start for the Lakers as GVSU jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held the Oilers scoreless for the first five minutes of the contest. After the first of four trifectas from junior Tony Peters went down to make it a 6-0 Laker lead, Findlay went on a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to 7-5.

A layup from senior Nick Waddell made it an 11-7 lead for the Lakers with 11:50 to play in the opening stanza, but the three-balls were falling for the Oilers as a 9-0 run ensued that included two shots from downtown by Jack Smith to give Findlay a 16-11 advantage.

With 4:33 to play in the first half, Peters hit another three-pointer to cut the Oiler lead to 26-20, but Findlay went on yet another run, scoring the next six points including another three-pointer. Findlay led 32-20 with only 3:16 to play in the first half and went in to the locker room with a 35-24 lead.

Peters was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field including three triples in the first half for 11 points to lead all scorers. Fueling Findlay was some hot shooting from outside as they hit seven trifectas on 16 attempts and capitalized on 11 Laker turnovers in the first half, resulting in 12 points off turnovers.

The situation got even worse for the Lakers in the second half as the Oilers poured in two more three-balls only three minutes in to the second half and had extended their lead to a commanding 20 points at the 11 minute mark.

An eight-point Laker run kept GVSU in the game after that as a free throw from junior Breland Hogan along with layups by Waddell and freshman Ben Lanning cut the lead to 15. Freshman Ryan Sabin then drilled a three-pointer to cut the lead to 57-45 with 6:16 to play. Following a Findlay layup, Sabin hit yet another shot from downtown to bring the Lakers within 11 at 59-48, but an Oiler three-pointer on the next possession seemed to be the dagger.

Findlay extended the lead back out to 18 with 2:14 to play at 68-50 and while the Lakers scored the last seven points of the contest, the Oilers escaped with the 68-57 victory.

It was the 17th meeting between the two teams since 2004 and the series advantage in that time is separated by only one game with Findlay claiming nine of those games and GVSU has eight victories.

Peters' career-high 16 points was the highest total in the game while Waddell had 13 points and seven rebounds, including six boards on the offensive end that matched Findlay's entire team total.

The Oilers had four starters in double figures and shot a staggering 54.2-percent from beyond the arc in the game (13-for-24). In the second half, the Oilers shot 72.2-percent from the field (13-for-18).

For the game, GVSU was 19-for-46 (41.3-percent) from the field while Findlay was 24-for-44 (54.5-percent), the biggest aid for the Oilers in their victory that snapped the Lakers' four-game winning streak.

The Lakers fall to 14-10 overall on the season with a 10-7 mark in the GLIAC. Findlay moves to 18-6 on the year with a 12-5 record in the conference.

GVSU will look to regroup on Saturday (Feb. 18) when they take on Wayne State in Detroit at 3 p.m.