ALLENDALE, Mich. – After splitting a pair of tight, hard-fought games against the top two teams in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) last week, the Grand Valley State Lakers stay home and get a little extra rest as they host the Pride of Purdue Northwest University Saturday (Jan. 27) at 1:00 PM at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers enter the contest winners of seven of their last nine games, holding a 10-9 overall record and 5-6 conference record. Purdue Northwest is 1-18 on the year and 1-10 in the league.
 
 This is the first GLIAC opponent the Lakers will face for a second time. GVSU went to Hammond, Indiana at the tail end of the fall semester and beat Purdue Northwest, 95-69, in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The win sparked the Lakers recent surge, the first of seven wins in the last nine games. The Lakers have also reached the 80-point mark in eight of those nine games. GVSU is coming off an 87-81 loss to No. 4 Ferris State, a game that saw the Lakers lead at halftime and keep the game within one possession until the final minutes.
 
Myles Miller has found a surge as he hits the back nine of his senior season. A four-year senior, Miller had never scored 20 points in a game before this month. He dropped 27 against Ashland and has scored at least 20 points in three of the last four games. Hunter Hale knocked down six three-pointers in the game against Ferris. Hale, a redshirt-sophomore in his first season with the Lakers, is one of the best outside shooters in the league, knocking down 49 triples to rank fourth in the GLIAC in made threes. Jake Van Tubbergen continues to be one of the most efficient scorers in the league. Averaging over 10 points a game, the freshman has the fifth-best shooting percentage in the league at .571. 
 
Tyree Coe is right on Hale's heels in the three-point category, knocking down 46 triples for Purdue Northwest. He and Torrance Johnson have been the driving force behind the Pride offense. Both average over 13 points per game while Johnson also averages 7.7 rebounds per contest. The Lakers were able to get Johnson in foul trouble early in the first meeting, limiting him to just seven points in 15 minutes of action.
 
Grand Valley State as been the best rebounding team in the GLIAC this season, hauling in 40.2 rebounds per game. The Lakers are coming off a 45-rebound effort against the highly-ranked Bulldogs. Free throws were a major factor in the loss to Ferris. GVSU took just four free throw attempts compared to 25 by the Bulldogs. The Lakers have taken more free throws than their opponent eight times this season and are 7-1 when they do so. The only loss was in overtime against Northern Michigan.
 
Each of the last four games for the Lakers have come down to the final minute as either a tie or one-possession game. The Lakers have split the four contests and got a well-deserved break with no midweek game this week. The rested and refreshed Lakers will look to keep firing on all cylinders Saturday, looking to keep pace in the GLIAC standings as the league shifts to the back half of the 2017-18 GLIAC season.