Ashland, Ohio -- March basketball is survive and advance and the #7-seeded Grand Valley State (17-12) men's basketball team did just that in impressive fashion in the opening round of the GLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament Tuesday (March 5) evening in Ashland, Ohio. The Lakers never trailed and led by as many at 13 points at #2-seeded and 21st-ranked Ashland, claiming a 72-61 win. GVSU will play #3-seeded Wisconsin-Parkside in one semifinal Saturday (March 9), while host Davenport will host Northern Michigan in the other semifinal. Game times have not been announced.
GVSU, 5-1 in its last six games, jumped out to 9-0 lead as junior guard
Hunter Hale tallied a steal and raced in for a dunk to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. Sophomore forward
Jake Van Tubbergen scored in the paint, followed by a
Jeremiah Ferguson triple and steal-layup. Ashland made a run to tie the game at 15-15, but Hale drilled a three-pointer as the Lakers regained the lead. Leading 24-21 at the 7:36 mark of the opening half, GVSU went on a 10-0 run to up its lead to 34-21 with 3:47 left in the opening stanza. Van Tubbergen scored six points, senior guard
Zach West two and senior forward
Kindred Williams added a bucket as the Lakers built their largest lead of the game. Grand Valley State took a 36-27 lead into the lockerroom at the half.
The Eagles opened the second half with an 8-2 run (38-35), but GVSU continued to answer with points of its own each time. Ashland's Drew Noble hit a 3-pointer to pull the Eagles within two (45-43) with 13:07 left, but Van Tubbergen answered with a 3-pointer of his own (48-43) and that is as close it would be the rest of the contest. Two Van Tubbergen free throws upped the lead to 50-43 and Hale drilled a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 10 (53-43). GVSU maintained at least a seven point lead for the final 11:49 of the game, leading by double digits for much of that time.
Grand Valley State, which connected on 25-of-52 shots from the floor (48.1 percent) and converted 17-of-22 free throws, scored 28 points in the paint and 20 points off Ashland turnovers. Van Tubbergen led the way with a game-high 27 points and nine rebounds, while Ferguson added 18 points. Hale chipped in 10 points and
Isaiah Brock netted six points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Lakers make a return trip to the GLIAC Tournament semifinals for the first time since the 2012-13 season when they opened the tournament with a 73-57 home win over Hillsdale.
