ST. LOUIS—The Grand Valley State men's basketball team dropped its opening game of the UMSL Thanksgiving Classic to Missouri-St. Louis, 78-66, on Tuesday afternoon inside the Mark Twain Building.
 
Britain Harris led the Lakers (2-3) with 12 points. Harris went 5-for-9 from the field and assisted on two buckets. Ethan Alderink led GVSU in rebounding with seven boards. Marius Grazulis, who made his first start of the season, scored 10 points and also blocked two shots.
 
The Lakers had a strong first half and led 32-31 at the halftime break. The Tritons (4-0) won the game with a strong shooting performance in the second half.
 
Harris led the way with seven first half points, making three of his four shot attempts in the first half. Alderink grabbed five rebounds in the first half, and Daniel Kiely and Ben Karbe each had four rebounds in the first half.
 
GVSU outrebounded UMSL 27-25 on the night. Ten of the Lakers' rebounds came on the offensive glass and they converted those into 11 second chance points.
 
The Lakers return to action at 2 p.m. on Wednesday to face Maryville in their final game of the UMSL Thanksgiving Classic.