ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State Lakers used a stout defensive effort to outlast the Northwood Timberwolves, 73-60, Saturday (Jan. 12) night in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) action at the GVSU Fieldhouse. GVSU improves to 11-5 on the year and 5-3 in the GLIAC while Northwood falls to 6-10 this season and 3-5 in GLIAC play.
 
Three Lakers scored in double figures to lead the offense. Hunter Hale led the team in scoring for a third straight game, netting 19 points on 6-12 shooting, including a pair of threes. Jeremiah Ferguson stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. Jake Van Tubbergen scored 14 points and hauled down a game-high nine rebounds while also blocking a pair of shots.
 
GVSU shot .491 (26-53) for the game, going 5-14 from three and 16-24 from the free throw line. Northwood was held to a .368 (25-68) clip overall, 6-24 from three and 4-7 in free throws. GVSU out-rebounded Northwood, 40-26, while blocking 10 shots and recording five steals as a team.
 
A back-and-forth first half saw the Lakers trail by as many as three and lead by up to five. With two minutes left to go in the half, a Ferguson steal and leak ahead to Zach West put GVSU up by five once again, but Northwood would end the half on a 6-0 run to take a one-point lead, 35-34, into half.
 
The Lakers wasted no time taking the lead out of the break. Less than a minute into the second half, Ferguson lobbed up an alley-oop for Isaiah Brock to hammer down, see-sawing the Lakers in front for a lead they'd never relinquish. Northwood kept it close until the 12:30 mark of the half, when Hale and Ferguson scored on back-to-back possessions to push the lead to seven and GVSU would never lead by less than two possessions again.
 
GVSU won both home games this week, taking advantage of their last taste of home cooking for a while. The team embarks on a five-game road trip beginning with a trip to the Upper Peninsula to face Michigan Tech on Thursday (Jan. 17) at 7:30 PM. The game can be heard live on ESPN 96.1 FM and GVSULakers.com will provide links to live stats and video while @GVSUBasketball provides live Twitter updates.