ALLENDALE, Mich.—It's the most wonderful time of the year for Laker guard Juwan Starks, who followed up Saturday's career high 23 point effort with 26 points in GVSU's 87-75 win over Ashland on Monday night at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The win moves the Lakers to 8-5 on the season, and 4-2 in GLIAC play.
 
Starks torched the nets all night, hitting on 9-12 attempts from the field and 6-7 from beyond the arc for a new career best of 26 points.  Classmate Trevin Alexander added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Luke Ryskamp netted 20 in the win, as the Laker seniors combined to score 62 of the team's 87 points.
 
A close game throughout, the Lakers got late buckets from Myles Miller and Drake Baar, punctuated by two clutch blocks by Starks, to put away the Eagles late in the fourth quarter.  With 3:15 left in the game and the Lakers nursing a 77-73 lead, Starks blocked the turnaround jumper in the lane of Adrian Cook, which led to an old-fashioned three point play on the other end by Miller. After an Eagle's miss at the other end, Baar got the ball in the low post, spun towards the baseline and sank an eight foot fadeaway jumper to push the lead to nine, 83-72 with 2:06 remaining.
 
As Cook pushed the ball towards the hoop on the other end, Starks swatted the ball against the backboard from behind, leading to a Baar rebound and free throws for the Lakers. Back-to-back steals by Zach West and Trevin Alexander on the next Eagle possessions burned any chance Ashland had to make up the margin, and forced them to foul the Lakers to try and get the ball back. GVSU went 5-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to close out the game.
 
After Starks opened the game's scoring with the first of his six triples on the night, the Lakers pushed out to a 13-4 lead at the 15 minute mark of the first half after a jumper by Alexander and a trifecta from Ryskamp on back-to-back possessions. The Eagles wittled down at the Laker lead throughout the half, and the teams exchanged the lead several times in the closing minutes of the first half. A pair of free throws by Lance Dollison and an Alexander jumper gave the Lakers a four point halftime lead, 35-31, after Ryskamp's three pointer at the buzzer rolled out.
 
More back and forth play was soon to follow in the second half, with Ashland opening up a seven point lead, 55-48, with 14:54 left to play in the game off of a triple by Boo Osborne. After more lead changes and small runs, the game was tied at 66 apiece with 7:22 remaining, but a Zach West triple and a Starks layup sandwiched a Cook layup to give the Lakers a 71-68 lead with 6:45 left. Four minutes later, Miller's three-point play would give the Lakers a six-point lead, the first of several clutch plays that would sound the death knell for Ashland in the contest.
 
Grand Valley State held a slim edge in rebounding in the contest, 34-29, and scored a handful more points off turnovers (13-8) in the contest. Altogether, the game featured 11 ties and six lead changes. The Lakers shot 53.6 percent (30-56) from the field in the contest, compared to 42.9 percent (24-56) for Ashland. GVSU hit 12 of 19 (63.2 percent) three-point attempts in the game, while Ashland converted on 45.8 percent (11-24) of attempts.