KENOSHA, Wis. – The No. 20 Grand Valley State Lakers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they beat the Parkside Rangers, 67-57, in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Saturday (Feb. 1) at DeSimone Gymnasium. The Lakers improve to 18-3 overall and 11-2 in the GLIAC to remain alone in first place in the conference standings.
 
Three Lakers scored in double figures, led by 18 points from Jeremiah Ferguson, with nine points coming from the free throw line. Jake Van Tubbergen scored 17 points on an efficient 6-8 shooting day while also grabbing eight rebounds and Christian Negron had 11 points with three blocks.
 
For the second straight game, a hot start sparked a big lead early in the game. GVSU scored the first ten points and jumped out a 24-8 lead. Parkside answered with an 8-0 run of their own to get back within single digits. The game would hang right around a 10-point differential the rest of the half but a turnover by the Lakers on the final possession of the half allowed a Parkside bucket to cut the Laker deficit to 32-23.
 
Late in the second half, Parkside found some rhythm to hit back-to-back threes and get back within six. The Lakers used a timeout to set up a key possession to answer when Negron made a crisp pass to Ben Lubitz, who drilled a wing three to answer and regain the momentum for GVSU down the stretch as free throws iced the Lakers eighth win in nine games.
 
The Lakers are back at home for three straight games, beginning Thursday (Feb. 6) when they host the Wayne State at 8:00 PM. GVSU will be wearing special "The Valley" uniforms, which can be seen on social media. The game will also air on ESPN3 and ESPN 96.1 FM.