Despite trailing at halftime, Grand Valley State put together a stunning second half run to take control over Trinity Christian on Friday night (Nov. 18) in Allendale. The Lakers turned a 31-25 deficit into a 85-48 victory thanks to 60 second half points and a game-changing 28-0 run over an eight-minute stretch in the second stanza.

GVSU's 60-point explosion in the second half has not been done by the Lakers since Dec. 28, 2008. On that day, Grand Valley State ran past Marygrove by a 116-51 final with 66 second-half points. 

The Lakers were nearly unstoppable in the second half of Friday's game. After struggling from the field in the opening 20 minutes, GVSU shot 22-of-33 (66.7 percent) from the field and made 9-of-16 three-point tries for a 56.3 percentage. The Lakers added 7-of-10 free throw tries to reach the 60-point mark in the second half, while holding Trinity Christian to just 17 points in the same timeframe.

Grand Valley State evens its season record at 2-2, while the Trolls of Trinity Christian fall to 1-4. On Monday (Nov. 21), the Lakers will play their third game in six days, as they host Grace Bible at 7:00 p.m. in the Fieldhouse Arena.

Four GVSU players reached double-digits in the victory, led by senior Luke Ryskamp's game-high 15 points. Ryskamp was 7-of-12 from the field and added five boards. Junior transfer Danzel Wright made his Laker debut and provided quite a spark off the bench, totaling 14 points, three boards, and three assists in only 14 minutes.

Senior Trevin Alexander reached a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, to go with two assists, two steals, and a block. Junior center Drake Baar was inserted in the starting lineup for the first time in his career and he responded by shooting 6-of-10 from the floor and totaling 12 points (matching his career-high from Wednesday night against Great Lakes Christian), four rebounds, and a career-best three blocked shots.

A layup by Baar with 15:35 to play in the game put GVSU in front 39-36, which was followed 20 seconds later by a three-pointer from Trinity Christian's Myles Birgans. From there, the Lakers rattled off an incredible 28-0 run, which began on back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore Zach West and Alexander.

After a pair of Juwan Starks free throws, Wright and West put down consecutive trifectas in a 22-second span, pushing the lead to 53-39, but the Lakers were not finished. Center Justin Greason put back an offensive rebound for an easy bucket and Starks buried a three-pointer.

Wright sandwiched a pair of layups around fast break layups from Alexander and Ryskamp. Fouled on the second layup, Wright made the free throw and completed the old-fashioned three-point play at the 7:15 mark. In just 8:01 of game play, the Lakers stunningly turned a 39-39 deadlock into a 67-39 blowout. 

A three-pointer from Trinity Christian ended the scoreless drought for the Trolls, but Alexander answered with a three-pointer of his own, Baar hit a jumper, and Ryskamp slammed home a dunk with two hands to get the lead out to 74-44 with less than five minutes to go. 

11 different Lakers put their name in the scorebook, while West drained a trio of three-pointers and finished with nine points and seven boards. Junior Myles Miller supplied seven points, four rebounds and four assists, while Starks added seven points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals, and a block. 

Sophomore Alec Marty posted six points, while junior Chris Dorsey handed out four assists. Starks, Greason, and Ryskamp all grabbed five rebounds, as the Lakers dominated the glass 52-34. Both teams committed 14 turnovers.

Trinity Christian shot 25.8 percent from the field overall, but took the 31-25 halftime lead with six of their 12 made field goals coming from three-point range. After the score was tied 20-20 with 8:23 to play, the Trolls notched the next eight points and held GVSU scoreless for nearly five minutes. The Trinity Christian lead grew to 31-22 on a three-pointer with 1:51 to go, but Wright's three-pointer in the final minute of the first half set the stage for a wild second-half comeback.