ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State men's basketball team bounced back for an 89-80 win over the Purdue Northwest Pride Saturday (Jan. 29) at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers improve to 13-5 on the season and 7-4 in GLIAC play.
 
Jake Van Tubbergen led the way with 30 points and 14 rebounds, getting to the free throw line 18 times. Deleon Brown contributed 24 points of his own, a career high, while knocking down four three-pointers. Christian Negron muscled home 12 rebounds in the win.
 
It was a fast start for the Lakers, with Van Tubbergen driving in for a bucket off the opening tip. Then Negron stole the ball at mid court and raced back for a one-handed jam to ignite a 16-4 Laker run to start the game. A barrage of three straight three's answered later for the Pride to give them their first lead, 34-33, late in the half before the Lakers responded to take a 39-36 advantage into halftime.
 
The Lakers hit their first five three-point attempts in the second half to quickly regain a double-digit lead. The Pride would get as close as within five a few times, but never back to a one-possession game as GVSU earned a home win.
 
The Lakers now hit the road for three games next week, beginning Tuesday (Feb. 1) at Northwood as a rescheduled contest due to COVID-19 issues within the Timberwolves program earlier this year. The game begins at 6 PM and coverage on The Ticket West Michigan (106.1 FM, 1340 AM, theticketmi.com) begins at 5:45 from Riepma Arena.