Box Score Grand Valley State claimed 63-56 comeback win over Walsh Thursday (Dec. 8) night at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers improve to 8-5 overall and 4-3 in GLIAC action, while Walsh falls to 5-6 overall and 1-6 in league action. The Lakers will host Malone Saturday (Dec. 10) at 3 p.m.

The Lakers trailed this GLIAC slugfest for the first 24:16 by as many nine points on three occasions. GVSU, playing shorthanded due to injuries, clawed and scrapped the entire contest and just found a way to hang around. Senior guard Ryan Sabin gave GVSU its first lead of the game (28-27) on a short jumper at the 15:44 mark after the Lakers grabbed three offensive rebounds on the possession. From that point on the lead would change six times and be tied another four times. Following a Walsh bucket, sophomore guard Luke Ryskamp gave GVSU a 30-29 lead and Ricardo Carbajal scored after an offensive rebound to give GVSU a 33-31 lead. Sabin hit a three-pointer to tie the game 36-36, but Walsh answered quickly with a 10-4 run to build the lead back to six (46-40) with 9:48 left. Senior center Darren Washington hit a pair of free throws and Sabin converted a three-point play to pull the Lakers back to within one (46-45) as the wild second half continued. 

The turning point of the game came when GVSU got a huge bucket from freshman forward Drake Baar. It wasn't just a garden variety bucket, it was the first made three-pointer of his career on the first attempted three-pointer of his career and it gave GVSU a 48-46 lead. Walsh tied it quickly at 48-48, but it was all Lakers for the final 6:05. Sabin hit a pair of free throws and converted his second three-point play of the game to give GVSU a 53-48 lead. Walsh pulled back to within two (53-51) with 3:21 left, but Ryskamp hit a pair from the charity stripe to push the lead up to four (55-51). Freshman guard Sam McClendon then made an impressive move for a reverse layup that gave the Lakers a 57-51 lead with 2:03 left. Walsh hit  another three-pointer, but Sabin and Carbajal converted four consecutive free throws to up the GVSU lead to seven (61-54) and secure the win. 

Grand Valley State, which scored just 17 points on four made buckets in the opening 20 minutes, scored 46 points in the second half, converting 22-of-27 free throws. GVSU converted 31-of-39 free throws for the game. In addition, the Lakers tallied 13 second chance points in the final 20 minutes, including four points from Carbajal off missed free throws. GVSU pulled down 37 rebounds, turned the ball over just eight times and recorded six steals. Sabin led the way offensively with 23 points and pulled down six rebounds. Ryskamp added 11 points, while Carbajal chipped in nine points and seven rebounds. McCendon added four points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.