GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Valley State Lakers stifled one of the top offenses in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) to hold off Lake Superior State for a 66-62 win in the second installment of the Downtown Thursday series at the DeltaPlex Arena. Grand Valley State improves to 10-8 on the year, winning their seventh game in their last eight, and are now 5-5 in the GLIAC. Lake Superior State falls to 14-4 on the year and 8-2 in the league.
 
GVSU shot .449 from the field in the game and held LSSU, who entered the game with the best shooting percentage in the league, to just a .343 mark from the floor. GVSU went 4-9 from downtown and 10-13 from the free throw line while Lake State went 8-28 from beyond the arc and 6-9 from the stripe. The Lakers led for the final 35 minutes of the game, never trailing after three minutes into the game. GVSU led the rebounding contest 42-34 but turned the ball over 18 times compared to eight giveaways by LSSU.
 
Jake Van Tubbergen led the way offensively for GVSU with 13 points on 5-7 shooting and eight rebounds. Hunter Hale collected a season-high nine rebounds to go along with his 13 points in the game, including five points in the final two minutes to help the Lakers hang on. Ben Lubitz hit a pair of threes and dropped 12 points while Drake Baar swatted a career-high four blocks to help the defensive cause while scoring eight points and hauling in six boards.
 
Justin Greason dropped in a layup on a lead pass from Myles Miller to put the Lakers in front, 6-5, with 17 minutes left in the first half; the bucket that would prove to be the game-winner. Miller had 11 points of his own, the fourth Laker to score in double figures for GVSU in the game. Akaemji Williams led all scorers, putting in 16 points for LSSU, but was held to just 6-24 from the field.
 
With under a minute to go and the Lakers lead at two, a GVSU jump shot glanced off the front of the rim and Van Tubbergen soared over three LSSU players to pull in the offensive rebound and secure the win for GVSU. Van Tubbergen also had a big rebound on the defensive end the following possession to prevent any last-second heartbreak. In the first half, Van Tubbergen soared for an offensive rebound and put it back with an emphatic two-handed jam that brought the DeltaPlex to their feet.
 
The Lakers don't get much time to enjoy their victory over a team tied for the league lead. They host the other leaders, No. 5 Ferris State Saturday night at 8:00 PM at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The game is available on ESPN3, ESPN 96.1 FM and the iHeart app.