ALLENDALE – The No. 23 Grand Valley State men's basketball team moved into a tie for first place in the GLIAC standings after defeating No. 10 Northern Michigan 85-80 Thursday (Jan. 29) night at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers claimed their seventh straight win and improved to 16-3 overall on the season and 9-2 in the GLIAC. 
 
Ethan Alderink led all scorers with 23 points and grabbed four rebounds shooting 7-14 from the field and 8-10 from the free throw line. Jalen Charity scored 20 points for the second straight game and dished out three assists on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field with two three-pointers and 8-10 from the free throw line. Mason Docks notched 13 points on 3-6 shooting from two triples and two steals. Trevor Smith Jr. added nine points and three assists on 4-6 shooting, while Shamus Thompson led GVSU with eight rebounds and three blocks. 
 
GVSU shot 54% from the field and 42% from three, while Northern Michigan shot 37% from the field and 37% from three-point range. The Lakers went 27-34 from the free throw line, while the Wildcats went 24-27 from the charity stripe. Northern Michigan outrebounded the Lakers 36-29 and 20-9 in offensive rebounds. GVSU outscored Northern Michigan 32-26 in the paint. 
 
Northern Michigan jumped out to an early 12-8 lead hitting their first three of four shots from downtown. Antaune Allen came off the bench for GVSU and scored eight straight points including two three-pointers to give GVSU a 14-12 lead with just over 13 minutes to play in the first half. The Wildcats would hit their fourth three of the first half to put them back in front at 18-16 at the 12-minute mark of the first half. GVSU would close the last 10 minutes of the first half on a 23-19 run that featured eight ties and nine lead changes as they would take a 41-39 lead into halftime.
 
In the second half, Northern Michigan jumped back in front at 45-43 off a four-point play with 17:30 minutes to play. Ethan Alderink quickly answered for GVSU with a layup on the next GVSU possession to tie the game at 45-45. The Lakers would go on an 11-4 run in four minutes to take a five-point lead with 13 minutes to play after a Shamus Thompson mid-range jumper. The Lakers would score four straight points off an Alderink layup and fastbreak layup by David Wilkerson to take their largest lead of the game at 58-50 with 11 minutes to play. Northern Michigan would cut the Laker lead to one at 66-65 after going on a 15-8 run with just over five minutes to go. The Lakers would answer off four straight points by Alderink to go back up four followed by a Charity layup to push the Lakers to a six-point lead at 72-66 with 3:46 remaining. 
 
After both teams knocked down a pair of free throws, Northern Michigan hit a big three to pull within three with three minutes left. Mason Docks answered with a three of his own to put GVSU back up six with 1:52 left. Northern Michigan cut to a one possession lead again after hitting another three with 1:07 left. GVSU would go down and hit one of two free throw to make it a four-point game. The Wildcats got a layup to fall to make it a two-point game with 49 seconds left. On the next GVSU possession, Trevor Smith Jr. hit the biggest shot of the game, knocking down a three from the top of the key to put GVSU up 81-76 with 19 seconds left to secure the win for GVSU as Docks and Charity would hit free throws in the final seconds to give GVSU the win.
 
GVSU will be back in the Fieldhouse Arena on Saturday, January 31^st when they host No. 6 ranked Michigan Tech at 3:00 PM. The game will be streamed live on FloCollege and can be listened live on Thunder Country 107.3.