ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State Lakers opened Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play for the 2019-20 season with a 73-47 win over the Parkside Rangers Thursday (Dec. 5) night at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers win their fourth straight game to improve to 7-1 on the season and 1-0 in GLIAC play. They will face Purdue Northwest on Saturday at 3 PM.
 
The Lakers defense was stout all night, holding Parkside to just 33.3% from the field and outrebounding the Rangers, 44-23, for the game. Four Lakers scored in double figures, led by a season-high 18 from Ben Lubitz while Jake Van Tubbergen provided his fourth consecutive, and fifth overall, double-double of year with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
 
"I'm really happy to start the conference season the right way and get this win over a very physical and talented Parkside team," said head coach Ric Wesley. "We've been emphasizing to our guys the importance of rebounding and finishing defensive situations. To see us dominate the glass the way we did today was very encouraging and a big reason why we got the resounding result that we did."
 
The Lakers closed both halves in strong fashion to pull away from the Rangers. Neck-and-neck through the first 10 minutes, with the Lakers trailing 12-8 with 9:45 to go until half. Jayden Hodgson would drill a triple to spark a 21-3 run over the next eight minutes to open a 29-15 lead with two minutes until half. GVSU would lead 33-18 at halftime and never look back, leading by double figures the entire second half.
 
"We started hitting some shots and really frustrated them on the defensive end of the floor in those last 10 minutes of the first half," said Wesley. "That set the tone and got our whole team energized. I thought our bench gave us a great lift today and this was really a good team win."
 
The Lakers look for a fifth straight win on Saturday (Dec. 7) when they host Purdue Northwest at 3 PM. GVSULakers.com will provide links to live stats, audio and video while @GVSUBasketball has live updates on Twitter.