CALEDONIA, Mich. – The Grand Valley State Lakers post-season run continues this weekend with the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Final Four on the campus of Davenport University. The 7-seed Lakers upset 2-seed Ashland Tuesday to advance to Saturday's (March 9) semifinal where they'll meet the 3-seed Wisconsin-Parkside at 5:30 PM. The game can be heard live on ESPN 96.1 FM in Grand Rapids and the iHeart app.
 
The Lakers, winners of five of their last six games, are 17-12 overall after winning their first GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal since 2013. GVSU never trailed in the road upset of the nationally-ranked Eagles, fueled by sophomore Jake Van Tubbergen's career-high 27 points. The 72-61 win continues a dominant defensive trend that has seen the Lakers hold their opponent to 70 points or fewer in each of their last six games.
 
The Lakers and Parkside split their meetings this season, with both road teams pulling out wins. The Lakers earned an 11-point win in Wisconsin to open GLIAC play back in November before the Rangers used a buzzer-beating tip-in to pull out an overtime win in Allendale in early February. GVSU rebounded from that loss to begin this stretch of five wins in six games. The two meetings this season are the first time the schools have faced each other since 1976. Overall, the teams are 4-4 against each other all-time.
 
Brand new to the GLIAC this season, Parkside shattered expectations by winning a North Division title in their first season out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). Four Rangers are averaging double figures in scoring this season, led by Chavares Flanigan's 13.7 points per game. Flanigan also has 153 assists this season and 53 steals, making him a versatile threat on both ends of the floor from the guard position. Joey St. Pierre's size and strength make him a difficult matchup. He scores at a .639 clip for the year, averaging just over 10 points a game, and has 56 blocks on the season. Adam Bonk, Brandon Hau and Brandon Trimble will likely round out the starting five and give the Rangers plenty of options on the offensive end.
 
With Davenport on the other side of the bracket and playing the first game of the day (3 PM), should the Panthers win the Lakers and Rangers are essentially playing an NCAA Tournament qualifying game. This GVSU team has shown resilience all season long and their ability to bounce back from adversity has them potentially one win away from the NCAA post-season for the first time since the 2009-2010 season.