UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. -- The Grand Valley State Lakers used a dominant second half to run away with an 81-64 win over the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals Thursday night in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) action at O'Neill Arena. The total team effort saw three Lakers score in double-figures and an outstanding defensive presence to improve to 13-11 on the season and 7-9 in GLIAC play.
Jake Van Tubbergen led the Lakers with 22 points, his second straight game reaching the 20-mark, while
Hunter Hale scored 19 points - 17 of which came in the second half - while swiping four steals and
Jeremiah Ferguson supplied 18 points and six assists.
"We played really well as a team tonight on both ends of the floor," said head coach
Ric Wesley. "We only turned the ball over three times, and I thought our energy was really, really good on a night when we needed a win. We're running out of games here and this was a big one to get on the road."
The first half saw big swings back-and-forth, with Van Tubbergen scoring 10 points within the first nine minutes to help the Lakers to an eight-point lead. The Cardinals would respond with a flurry of three-pointers, starting the night 7-13 from downtown, to march back out to a seven-point advantage with just under five minutes to go before half. The Lakers would grind out an 8-2 run through the rest of the period to cut the deficit to 37-36 at intermission.
The game remained tight for a majority of the second half as both teams turned up the defensive intensity. The Lakers led 61-60 with 9:46 to go in regulation when they put the clamp down. An
Isaiah Brock tip-back slam followed by a Ferguson coast-to-coast layup with an acrobatic finish started a 23-4 run the rest of the way as the Lakers cruised to victory.
GVSU is back at it on Saturday (Feb. 16) as they head to Midland, Michigan to take on the Northwood Timberwolves at 6:00 PM in another pivotal game for GLIAC positioning. The game can be heard live on ESPN 96.1 FM in Grand Rapids and anywhere on the iHeart app.
