ALLENDALE--The Grand Valley State men's basketball team makes their trip to the East side of Michigan for a pair of games, kicking off at 8 p.m. on Thursday against Saginaw Valley.

The matchup can be seen live online via FloSports with a paid subscription. The game will be aired on radio on The Ticket (106.1 FM) with Bryan Fongers on the call.

The Lakers are riding a three-game winning streak, including a sweep of Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan last weekend.

The Grand Valley State men's basketball swept the season series against Northern Michigan with an, 81-75, victory on Saturday inside of the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena behind a career performance from Marius Grazulis. Grazulis dropped a career-high 24 points, taking advantage of countless mismatches in the post. He went 10-for-14 from the field, collected seven rebounds and had a team-high five assists. 

Kingsley Okanu also put in work in the post, scoring 12 points on a 5-for-8 performance from the field. Daniel Kiely led GVSU in rebounds with eight from the guard position. He also scored eight points on Saturday.

GVSU defeated Saginaw Valley in the teams' first matchup of the season, 66-62, on Jan. 14 inside of the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. Trevon Gunter led GVSU in the first meeting with SVSU with 19 points, including three clutch triples.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
Saginaw Valley is on a four-game losing skid coming into the Thursday's matchup. The Cardinals have a knack for blocking shots and are 48th in the country with 3.8 blocks per game. SVSU is also a top-100 team in the nation in steals per game, averaging 7.7. On the flip side, the Cardinals are not prolific from the perimeter, only making six 3s per game, shooting a 29.7 percent clip.

Freddie McIntosh leads the Cardinals in scoring with 15.5 points per game. Tre Garrett also fills up the scoring column, averaging 14.3 points and shoots 51.2 percent from the floor. McIntosh has scored 20 points or more in three of the Cardinals' last four games.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
GVSU is playing its best basketball at the right time of the year. With only four games remaining, the Lakers are on a three-game winning streak and have won 12 of their last 15 games dating back to Dec. 6 against Quincy. During the Lakers' current three-game winning streak, GVSU is averaging 82.33 points per games and have allowed just 70 points per game. Marius Grazulis is also playing his best basketball for the Lakers. During the three-game winning streak, Grazulis has scored 18.33 points per game.

CLEANING THE GLASS
Rebounding is an emphasis for the Lakers and it shows up on the stats sheet. GVSU is tied for 32nd in the NCAA in rebounding margin, averaging five more rebounds per game than its opponents. The Lakers are second in the conference in offensive rebounds per game with 10.96 offensive boards per game. That is good enough to rank 80th in the country.