ALLENDALE – The Grand Valley State men's basketball team defeated No. 9 Lake Superior State in the final seconds 71-68 Thursday (Feb. 6) night. GVSU improves to 11-10 on the season and 7-6 in the GLIAC.
 
Kaden Brown led all scorers with 25 points with four made three-pointers and three rebounds. William Dunn scored in double figures with 12 points for the eighth consecutive games on 6-8 shooting from the foul line and hauling down six rebounds. Shamus Thompson notched a career high 13 rebounds including eight offensive rebounds and tied a career high four blocks. Trevor Smith Jr. added seven points and three assists.
 
GVSU shot 37% from the field and 20% from three. Lake Superior State shot 35.8% from the field and 18.5% from three-point range. GVSU outrebounded Lake Superior State 42-38 and 17-11 in offensive rebounds. GVSU scored 34 points in the paint to Lake Superior State's 28.
 
Both teams struggled offensively early as GVSU would get their first lead of the game at 6-5 six minutes in. The two teams would go back and forth for the first 20 minutes that saw seven lead changes and three ties. GVSU would close the half on a 7-0 run off a layup by Dunn, three by Brown, and two free throws by Dunn to put GVSU up 30-24 at the break.
 
In the second half, GVSU pushed the lead to double figures at 34-24 with a pullup jumper by Trevon Gunter and dunk by Thompson. Lake Superior State would answer with a 7-0 run in just over one minute to cut the GVSU lead to 34-31. GVSU would answer with a 5-0 run off an and one by Brown and steal and score by Mason Docks.
 
Both teams would trade buckets during a two-minute span, but Lake Superior State would cut the GVSU lead to one with just over 13 minutes to play. GVSU would be able to keep a lead off a made layup by Smith Jr. and free throws by Brown, but Lake Superior State would have an answer and tie the game at 48-48 with just under 11 minutes to go. 
 
LSSU would take the lead for the first time in the second half on the next possession with 10:15 to play and would push the lead to three with 9:08 to play. GVSU would have an answer with a pair of free throws made by Dunn and Brown followed by a driving layup by Brown to put the Lakers back in the lead at 56-53 with seven minutes remaining.
 
Lake Superior State would quickly retake the lead with 6:19 to play. Over the next three minutes, the game would have three lead changes and two ties to keep it a one possession game. Lake Superior State would hit a layup with 3:23 to play to go up 64-61. One minute later, Brown hit a big three to tie the game at 64-64 with 2:32 remaining. LSSU would split a pair of free throws and make a layup off an offensive rebound to go up 67-64 with 1:13 to play.
 
GVSU answered with a bucket by Jalen Charity off an offensive rebound to pull within one. GVSU would force LSSU to commit a turnover with 25 second s left to have a chance to take the lead. William Dunn missed a hook shot in the paint but got his own rebound and finished the layup with a foul to put GVSU in front at 68-67 with a chance for a three-point play with nine seconds. Dunn would miss the free throw by Thompson would come up big by securing his eighth offensive rebound of the night to force LSSU to foul with six seconds remaining. 
 
Thompson would sink both free throws to put GVSU up 70-67. GVSU would foul LSSU where they would split a pair of free throws to cut their deficit to 70-68 with three seconds. GVSU would get fouled a split a pair of shots at the foul line to go back up three. LSSU would get a last second heave from just inside the half court line that would be off the mark as GVSU would hang on for the 71-68 victory.
 
GVSU will be back home this Saturday (Feb. 8) when they host No. 16 Ferris State. Tipoff is set for 3:00 PM at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The game will be streamed live on FloSports and WXSP-TV. The game can be listened live on the radio on Thunder Country 10.7.3.