MARQUETTE, Mich. – The No. 25 Grand Valley State men's basketball team claimed the GLIAC tournament championship for the eighth time in program history after defeating No. 17 Northern Michigan 67-57 Sunday (Mar. 8) afternoon. The Lakers improve to 25-6 on the season and have punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Mason Docks and Jalen Charity led GVSU in scoring with 13 points each. Chairty grabbed five rebounds and Docks swiped three steals. Antaune Allen scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds on 5-13 shooting from the field. David Wilkerson added 11 points and two rebounds on 4-7 shooting from the field. Ethan Alderink put up eight points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals in the win.
 
GVSU shot 38% from the field while Northern Michigan shot 39% from the floor and 23% from three. Northern Michigan outrebounded the Lakers 42-33 while both teams grabbed 11 offensive rebounds. The Lakers outscored the Wildcats 34-28 in the paint and 12-9 in second chance points. 
 
The Lakers got off to a quick 7-3 start with a three-pointer by Ethan Alderink and buckets by Antaune Allen and Shamus Thompson. Northern Michigan would tie the game at 7-7 but Mason Docks had a quick answer with a three to put GVSU back in front. GVSU would go on a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the half at 19-12 with just under 11 minutes. Allen would score seven straight points for GVSU to put them up double digits at 24-14 with under 10 minutes left in the opening half. The Lakers would increase the lead to 16 off back-to-back steals and layups from Wilkerson and Docks. The Wildcats would make a late run at the end of the first half as GVSU would take a 10-pont lead into the break.
 
In the second half, Northern Michigan cut the lead to six with under 16 minutes to go. GVSU would answer with a 13-0 run to take a 19-point lead off an and one from Charity. NMU answered with an 11-0 run to cut the lead down to seven points with just over four minutes to play. Charity would hit back-to-back layups late to help GVSU maintain an eight-point lead as GVSU would get crucial stops down the stretch to close it out. 
 
GVSU punches their ticket into the NCAA Tournament and will wait to hear their seeding. The selection show is tonight (Mar. 8) at 11:00 PM on the NCAA website at ncaa.com. Visit gvsulakers.com for more information regarding the NCAA Tournament.