ALLENDALE – The Grand Valley State men's basketball team defeated Wayne State 81-72 Thursday (Ja. 8) night at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers improve to 10-3 on the season and 3-2 in the GLIAC. 
 
The Lakers had five players score in double figures led by David Wilkerson with a career high 17 points, four assists, and three rebounds on 6-11 shooting from the floor with four three-pointers. Trevor Smith Jr. scored 15 points on 5-8 shooting from the field and dished out a game high six assists. Ethan Alderink notched 15 points and seven rebounds with two three-pointers and a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. Mason Docks put up 13 points and three rebounds on 6-8 shooting. Jalen Charity has added 10 points and six rebounds in the win.
 
GVSU shot 47.5% from the field and 10-22 from three for a 45.5% clip. Wayne State shot 46% from the field and were held to 21% shooting from three-point range. The Lakers outrebounded Wayne State 36-31 and 15-10 in offensive rebounds. The Warriors outscored the Lakers 36-34 in the paint.
 
The Lakers started the game on an 8-3 run in the first four minutes of the game. Wayne State would take their first lead of the game at 13-11 with minutes to play in the opening half and would increase their lead to five with 9:30 remaining. GVSU would answer with a 12-0 run to take a 31-24 lead off five straight points by David Wilkerson with just under four minutes to go in the first half. Ethan Alderink would hit a layup and a free throw to complete the three-point play with 42 seconds left to give GVSU a five-point lead after the first half. 
 
In the second half, Wayne State cut the Laker lead to two just five minutes in. GVSU responded with an Ethan Alderink three-pointer. Two minutes later, Alderink knocked down another three to give the GVSU their largest lead of the game at eight points. Wayne State would go on a 6-0 run to bring their deficit to two again with 12:30 remaining. Wilkerson would answer with a three to push the lead back to five. Three minutes later, Trevor Smith Jr. got a driving layup to go plus the foul to give GVSU a 67-58 lead with nine minutes to play.
 
The Lakers would push the lead to double digits for the first time in the game on a layup by Smith Jr. with 7:45 to go. The Warriors would score nine straight points to bring it to a one-point game at 71-70 with 3:40 remaining. Jalen Charity would stop the Warrior run with a layup with 2:35 to go. After Wayne State made a layup to cut the Laker lead to one, Charity would throw down an alley oop off the pass by Wilkerson to put GVSU back up by three with 1:52. The Lakers would get stop on the next Warrior possession. On the very next Laker possession, Wilkerson would hit his fourth three to secure the win for GVSU as they would end the game on a 10-2 run.
 
GVSU will conclude this home weekend on Saturday, January 10^th when they host Purdue Northwest at 3:00 PM at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The game will be streamed live on FloCollege and can be listened live on Thunder Country 107.3.