The Grand Valley State University men’s basketball team split two home games on Thursday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 22. First, the Lakers lost a 67-66 nail-biter to the Wayne State University Warriors in the game’s final minutes. After this close loss, the Lakers were able to walk out victorious over Saginaw Valley State two days later with a 76-68 win. At one point of the matchup, the Lakers’ largest lead of the night was 22 points.
The first 10 minutes of the matchup against the Warriors were filled with great defensive play. Neither team could get a feel for their offense and the score reflected that. With just under 10 minutes played, the Lakers were trailing 14-10. However, both teams were finally able to start scoring at a higher rate. Wayne State went on a 19-12 scoring run to close the half, and found themselves in firm control of the game. GVSU was in an 11-point deficit at the game’s halfway point. At this point, the score read 33-22.
However, the Lakers seemed to have a productive halftime because they came out strong on offense in the second half. The start to this half exhibited scoring run after scoring run for the Lakers. After redshirt sophomore Charles Turner knocked down a triple, the Lakers brought the Warriors’ lead down to just three points. The Warriors, without hesitation, answered this run with an 8-0 run of their own. WSU took the lead right back up to 11.
The Lakers still continued to fight their way back up. After four made free throws by junior Jalen Charity and a jam by redshirt sophomore Shamus Thompson, the Lakers were able to cut the lead back to five. Wayne State was relentless at keeping the lead comfortable for themselves. With roughly nine minutes to play, the Warriors held a double-digit lead for the following six minutes.
GVSU was able to rally toward the end of the game due to the shooting of sophomore Kaden Brown. Brown hit two 3-pointers in the clock’s last four seconds, but time was not on the Lakers’ side. GVSU lost this game by just one point. The final score was 67-66.
Charity wasn’t happy with the team’s performance, but remained determined.
“(The) only positive we can (take) is that we have another chance to play (against SVSU on Saturday to) redeem ourselves,” said Charity.
That’s exactly what the Lakers did against Saginaw Valley. GVSU opened the game with a quick, 7-0 run. A major point of emphasis coming into this game was improvement on GVSU’s defensive side, especially with Saginaw Valley’s guards playing at such a high level.
“We just have to let our principles carry us,” said Brown.
GVSU continued the game’s strong start throughout the first half. The Lakers led the full 20 minutes of action in the first half and were up by 11 points at the end of the half. The Lakers’ ability to keep the lead at a comfortable spot continued into the second half. After the first three minutes of the second half were closely contested, the Lakers found themselves up by 10 again with about 16 minutes remaining.
SVSU showed tremendous fight and was able to spark an 11-0 run with just two minutes left in the game. However, this was the final push for the Cardinals and they weren’t able to take away the Lakers’ lead. GVSU was able to keep this double-digit cushion until there were just 14 seconds remaining in the game, as the Cardinals managed to score. However, the Lakers were able to hold their lead, and win a much-needed eight-point victory over SVSU, as the final score was 76-68. The Lakers moved to 14-12 on the year and 10-8 in conference play.
