HOUGHTON, Mich.—The Grand Valley State men's basketball team used a strong second half effort to win Thursday's game at Northern Michigan, and after falling behind 45-28 at halftime Saturday afternoon at Michigan Tech, a similar effort was needed if the Lakers were going to emerge victorious. The rally fell short, however, in the face of a consistent scoring effort from the Huskies (8-12, 7-9 GLIAC), as Tech handed the Lakers their seventh loss of the season, 90-86.
 
Grand Valley's 86 points was the fourth highest total for team points this season, and the Laker's 58 second half points tied their season high for second half points, set earlier this season in a win against Olivet (11/20). Aaron Hayes led the Lakers with 21 points on 4-9 shooting from the field (12-14 FT), while Chaz Rollins added 16 points and eight boards. Trevin Alexander just missed a double-double, collecting nine boards to go along with 12 points. 
 
The beginning of the game was not an ideal start for the Lakers, as they missed their first four shots, and the Huskies jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. Grand Valley's first points would come three minutes into the first half off of a pair of Luke Ryskamp free throws. That would be followed by a Hayes triple to pull within two, 7-5, before Tech would rattle off eight straight points to go up 15-5. A triple by Juwan Starks would cut the Huskie lead to 12 with just under eight minutes left, 30-18, but that was as close as it would get for the Lakers in the first half, and after Chaz Rollins made a layup for Grand Valley with 49 seconds left, the lead stood at 17 points at the break, 45-28.
 
In the second half, the Huskies extended their lead into the twenties for a brief period. A triple with 16 1/2 minutes left got the margin to 23 points, the highest lead of the game for Michigan Tech, but the Lakers would start to chip away at the lead thanks to a much improved offensive effort in the second half. At 15 minutes, the lead had not shrunk much, to 21 points after a pair of Tech free throws, but with 10 minutes left, the margin stood at just 16, thanks to a layup by Alexander. With 9:10 seconds left in the second half, the Huskies would make their final field goal of the game on a jump shot by Tanner Uren to get the lead to 17 points.
 
With just under five minutes to go, a Rollins layup cut the lead to just 12 points, 74-62, and with just under three minutes left, another Rollins layup got the lead into single digits at 9 points, albeit briefly. With under two minutes to go in the game, the Lakers would cut the lead to just 7 points on four separate occasions, only to have the Huskies continue to score via the free throw line. Michigan Tech shot 24 free throws in the final nine minutes and made 23 of those free throws, stalling the furious Laker rally. With 26 seconds left, Myles Miller hit a triple to cut the lead to just four points, but Grand valley was forced to foul to try to get the ball back, and Bryan Heath sank the pair to put the nail in the coffin, 90-84. A Rollins layup with two seconds left provided the final margin as the Lakers fell, 90-86.
 
The contest marks the first time this season in which the Lakers neither outrebounded nor were outrebounded by their opponents, as the teams finished even in rebounding with 31 apiece. Both teams were effective from the floor, as Grand Valley shot 45.6 percent (26-57) and Michigan Tech shot 50 percent (22-44) from the field. The biggest disparity in the game was the one involving the least amount of action, free throw shooting. The teams combined for 77 attempts from the charity stripe, and while the Huskies were nearly perfect (34-37, 91.9 percent), the Lakers struggled to hit the freebies, going 27-40 (67.5 percent) from the line.
 
The Lakers won the turnover battle, committing seven less than their opponent (19-12), and turning the Huskies turnovers into 24 points. GVSU held a 39-23 edge in points in the paint, and in bench points (21-16).
 
The next call to action for the Lakers is a home tilt on Thursday, February 11^th against Lake Superior State University. Grand Valley dropped an earlier matchup with SVSU on the road in overtime, 82-74 on January 21^st. Tip off for this Thursday's game is set for 8 p.m at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena in Allendale, Michigan.