ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State Sawyers (Lakers) led wire-to-wire in a 77-72 win over the Northern Michigan Wildcats Saturday (Feb. 13) afternoon at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers improve to 7-5 on the season and drop the Wildcats to 6-7.
 
Deleon Brown scored on a midrange jumper to open the game and the Lakers would never relinquish the lead, ballooning as high as 15 as they opened the game on a 17-2 run. While the Wildcats would trim the deficit to just seven at halftime and get within one point late in the second half, the Lakers hit timely shots to keep the advantage and pull away late.
 
"This was another solid effort from our team to pull out a second win this weekend," head coach Ric Wesley said. "As physical as these games have been, our guys took (Northern Michigan's) best shot and were able to withstand it and make plays down the stretch. I'm really proud of our effort and resilience today."
 
Four Lakers shot at nearly 60% for the game (28-47) and had four score in double figures. Brown led the way with 18 points with four assists while Christian Negron went a perfect 8-8 from the field for 16 points, Jake Van Tubbergen added 14 points despite missing over 11 minutes of the first half with foul trouble and Jordan Harris poured in 13 points with six rebounds and six assists.   
 
The Lakers will be on the road for the remainder of the 2021 regular season, beginning their five-game road stretch at Davenport on Tuesday (Feb. 16) at 5:00 PM. Visit GVSULakers.com or follow @GVSUBasketball on social media for live coverage links.