After struggling to protect second-half leads in Illinois, the Grand Valley State men’s basketball team proved it could put the pedal to the metal.

Host GVSU turned a 36-28 halftime lead into a 71-56 win over Cedarville at Fieldhouse Arena on Saturday. The Lakers, who struggled against a variety of pressures in their season-opening loss to Missouri-St. Louis, found ways to draw fouls, dominate down low and put points on the scoreboard.

“I’m happy we got the win,” said GVSU coach Ric Wesley. “They’re a pretty good team that will make you look bad. They’re very much a helter-skelter team that will trap you and press you…For the most part, we did OK. We had a couple bone-head turnovers but we’re getting a little bit better.”

The Lakers turned the ball over 15 times, but drew 27 personal fouls and were assertive in the paint. GVSU outscored Cedarville 28-12 inside, and outrebounded the Yellow Jackets 46-28.

Junior forward Ricky Carbajal made the most of his opportunities down low, and led the Lakers with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. He added eight boards, two steals and two blocks.

“He was very active and he rebounded well, sometimes he doesn’t always rebound as well as we’d like but he really had some strong finishes,” Wesley said. “He’s a bit of a snake in the grass, a snake around kind of a player but sometimes he gets too cute and sneaky instead of going up strong.

“Tonight he really went up strong several times and you could just tell from the start he was in a good place and really ready to go.”

Carbajal and senior guard Ryan Sabin, who added 11 points, have scored in double figures in all three games this season. The backcourt duo of Darren Kapustka (11 points) and Luke Ryskamp (10 points) also chipped in offensively.

Senior center Darren Washington struggled from the free-throw line in the game, but was a force on the glass. He shot 1-of-7 from the stripe, but pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

“I thought Darren Washington had great energy,” Wesley said. “He was everywhere. If he just made his free throws he would have had a great night as well.”

GVSU hits the road for its next four games, starting with a pair of road contests played at Kentucky Wesleyan. The Lakers tip off against host KWU on Friday, and play either North Alabama or Truman State the next day. Sabin said the road trip should provide another early-season challenge.

“Overall we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Sabin said. “It’s always good to win the first home game and get a little streak going but we’ve got to go to Kentucky Wesleyan and it’s going to be a brutal trip.

“If we can go out there and get this winning streak extended that’s going to be huge.”

The Lakers tip off at KWU at 4:15 p.m.