ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State Lakers opened the season with a 69-56 win over the Alderson Broaddus Battlers in non-conference, in-region action at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena Saturday (Nov. 9) afternoon. The Lakers begin the season 1-0 while Alderson Broaddus falls to 0-1 on the year.
 
Jake Van Tubbergen led the Lakers with a double-double, scoring 21 points – 16 in the first half – and snagged 16 rebounds in his first game of his junior season. Jeremiah Ferguson scored 13 points and dished four assists while Christian Negron had 12 points and five boards. Isaac Gassman scored eight points, hitting a pair of threes, and had three rebounds.
 
"Jake was fantastic today. He came out aggressive and was able to get to the basket and took smart shots. His rebounding was critical for us and he really made a statement in the first game of the year," said head coach Ric Wesley.
 
After a back-and-forth start, Van Tubbergen took over out of the first media timeout, scoring six straight points to spark a run to build the Lakers a double-digit lead. The Lakers flirted with leads as large as 15 points, keeping the Battlers at a double-digit distance the remainder of the half.
 
"We did some really good things down the stretch of the first half," Wesley said. "I was happy with the ball movement and shot selection, for the most part. We're going to continue to grow offensively and find our rhythm more consistently, but this was a good place to start."
 
Out of the break, there wasn't a whistle for nearly seven minutes with the teams tracking back and forth and testing the early-season conditioning. The Battlers cut the lead down to ten at the four-under media timeout in the second half with a 7-0 run, but the Lakers answered with a 5-0 spurt out of the timeout to regain control and coast to victory.
 
The Lakers are back to work Sunday (Nov. 10) when they host the Davis & Elkins Senators at 1 PM at the GVSU Fieldhouse. The game will stream on the Grand Valley Sports Network with radio coverage on ESPN 96.1 in Grand Rapids plus the iHeart app. @GVSUBasketball will provide live updates on Twitter.