Allendale, Mich. -- Breaking out of a slump is far from easy, and the Grand Valley State men's basketball team had to try and do it against one of the conference's best teams on Thursday (Jan. 29) night. The Lakers got off to a brilliant start, seizing a 10-point lead less than six minutes into the game, but they could not sustain their early run, eventually falling 73-68 to Saginaw Valley State.
 
Still clinging to a 25-20 advantage at the 4:26 mark of the first half, fate seemed to favor GVSU. But the Cardinals closed the half on a 13-1 run, scoring all of those points in a two-plus minute stretch. SVSU went 3-of-3 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line during that span.
 
From then on, the shots just wouldn't drop for the Lakers.
 
GVSU fell behind by as many as 11 points, twice. It showed plenty of grit down the closing stretch, though. The Lakers quickly chipped away at the deficit. A three-point play by sophomore guard Luke Ryskamp, who scored a game-high 19 points, capped a furious 9-0 rally that spanned just one minute and change.
 
They stayed within six points until the final three minutes of regulation, when the Cardinals rattled off eight unanswered points to make it a 10-point affair (66-56).
 
Again, even with time working completely against it, GVSU refused to go down easily. Trailing by eight points with only 45 ticks remaining, freshman guard Sam McClendon scored the team's final eight points. SVSU connected on just enough freebies to withstand the late outburst.
 
Shooting was not an issue for the Lakers. In fact, they shot 45.3 percent from the field to the Cardinals' 41.7 percent. Turnovers were once again too much to overcome. GVSU committed 20 of them, which SVSU turned into 28 points.
 
Junior forward Ricardo Carbajal was one of the Lakers' top shooters in the loss. The Munster, Indiana native went 5-of-8 from the floor en route to a 13-point, eight-rebound performance.
 
Senior guard Ryan Sabin and junior guard Darren Kapustka were just one point shy of double-digit outings. Both scored nine points on a combined 6-of-13 shooting.
 
The loss drops the Lakers to 9-10 overall and 5-8 in GLIAC play. GVSU will look to bounce out of its current funk at Hillsdale on Saturday (Jan. 31). Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.