GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – In the first-ever installment of the Downtown Thursday series, the Grand Valley State Lakers had four players score in double figures but fell, 78-68, to the Michigan Tech Huskies Thursday night at the DeltaPlex Arena in downtown Grand Rapids. The Lakers suffered their fifth straight loss and fell to 3-6 on the 2017-18 season and 0-3 in GLIAC play. Michigan Tech improved to 6-3 on the year and 3-0 in conference.
 
The Lakers have been consistent in their first three games, though not in the way they'd like. GVSU has outscored their three opponents by a combined 20 points in the three second halves, but the slow starts have been too much to overcome. Lance Dollison led the Lakers with 14 points while Jake Van Tubbergen had 13 points but foul trouble limited the freshman to just 18 minutes. Myles Miller had 12 points for a third straight game and Zach West scored 11 points off the bench for GVSU.
 
The Lakers shot 41.3% from the floor while Michigan Tech hit 48.9% of their shots from the floor. Grand Valley State went 9-15 from the free throw line while the Huskies went 26-30 from the charity stripe. Kyle Monroe led Michigan Tech, and all scorers, with 28 points – thanks, in part, to a 16-16 performance at the free throw line - and was one of four Huskies in double figures in the game.
 
After the Lakers fell behind by ten points early, back-to-back threes from Dollison were followed up with a Van Tubbergen layup that dropped in plus a foul to get the Lakers back within one, 12-11, with a 9-0 run. The Huskies answered with seven straight points to regain separation. And climbed out to a 44-26 lead at the break.
 
With just over five minutes to play, Zach West hauled in an offensive rebound and laid in the follow up to get the Lakers within nine. Then, a minute and a half later, Dollison knocked down his third three-ball of the game to pull the Lakers within eight with 3:30 left in the game. The Lakers kept battling but couldn't get any closer. 

The Lakers get their first true home game of the conference season on Saturday, hosting the Northern Michigan Wildcats at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena at 3:00 PM.