ALLENDALE – The No. 25 Grand Valley State men's basketball teamed dominated Wayne State 81-67 in the GLIAC quarterfinals Wednesday (Mar. 4) night at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers improve to 23-6 on the season.
David Wilkerson led GVSU with a career high 25 points on 9-14 shooting from the field with three triples and five rebounds.
Mason Docks scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds, and dished out three assists on 7-11 shooting with two three-pointers.
Trevor Smith Jr. put up 12 points and led GVSU with four assists, while
Ethan Alderink scored 10 points and brought down five rebounds.
GVSU shot 50% from the field and 37% from three, while Wayne State shot 42% from the floor and 29% from downtown. The Warriors outrebounded the Lakers 37-30 and 15-10 in offensive rebounds. GVSU outscored Wayne State 42-36 in the paint 16-6 in fast break points. The Lakers committed just six turnovers and forced Wayne State to commit 12 turnovers.
The Lakers began the game on an 11-0 run.
Mason Docks got GVSU started with back-to-back buckets and
Antaune Allen put the Lakers up 11-0 with a transition three-pointer. Wayne State would cut the Laker lead to six, but GVSU answered with a 7-0 run off a three by Docks and back-to-back layups by
Charles Turner and
Ethan Alderink. With just under four minutes to go in the first half,
David Wilkerson hit back-to-back layups to put the Lakers up 39-18. Wilkerson would knock down a three just before the first half buzzer to send GVSU into the break with a 47-23 lead.
In the second half, Wilkerson scored six straight points for GVSU to increase the lead to 21 points after the Warriors cut the lead to 18. The two teams would go back and forth for most of the second half as the Lakers would maintain a comfortable 20-point lead with just over five minute to go and would cruise to a 14-point win.
The Lakers advance to the GLIAC semifinals and will face the two seed Michigan Tech in Marquette, Michigan on the campus of Northern Michigan on Saturday, March 7
th. Game time is still to be determined, and the game will be streamed live on FloCollege and can be listened live on Thunder Country 107.3. Visit gvsulakers.com for information regarding the GLIAC tournament.
