Grinding efforts and strong second-half performances were on display as the Grand Valley State men’s basketball team gutted out two wins over Quincy and the University of Missouri – St. Louis in the GLIAC/GLVC challenge to start the Lakers’ 2015-16 campaign.

In game one, the Lakers bested Quincy 76-67. GVSU came right back and edged UMSL. 63-57 on Sunday afternoon.

“It wasn’t how we expected, but we got it done,” said senior forward Trevin Alexander, who scored four clutch points late in the victory over UMSL.

In a hard-fought, physical, oft-uncertain game on Saturday, the Lakers eked out a win over Quincy in the first game of the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge.

The Lakers outscored Quincy 41-30 in the second half, securing a late lead in a game that featured 18 lead changes.

“In the first half we were really sloppy offensively. We missed a lot of shots around the basket. We had some turnovers, it just felt like we weren’t very offensively efficient in the first half,” said GVSU head coach Ric Wesley.

“Second half, I felt like we did a much better job and then late we really got good defensively,” he said. “Coming down the stretch we really got stops. We dug in and were able to cover their ball screen or cover their penetration.”

Quincy scored on just four of its final 17 possessions down the stretch.

A trio of guards led the Lakers – each in different ways. Aaron Hayes poured in a game-high 17 points, scoring throughout the game while shooting 5-for-8 from the floor.

Junior Luke Ryskamp matched Hayes with 17 points, despite shooting just 30 percent on field goals. Ryskamp banged and busted his way into the paint, and ended up knocking down 9 of his 10 free throws.

“That’s probably how (my points) are going to come,” Ryskamp said. “Getting to the line, that’s one thing I’ve been working on, and drawing fouls. I just have to finish the layup more, missed a lot of opportunities there.”

The third guard of the trio, Myles Miller, added 15 points – the vast majority of which came in a second-half spurt to help the Lakers grab a slight advantage after trailing by two points at the half.

“We’ve been waiting for that with Myles,” Wesley said. “Even though he’s small in stature, he’s kind of a scorer. He’s got a good midrange game and can hit the (3-pointer). I felt like he was able to get lost in the game where he just was free and easy and the offense came to him. That was huge. That gave us a big lift.”

Though Quincy’s bench outscored GVSU’s 30-14, the Lakers bested the Hawks 21 to 8 in points off turnovers.

GVSU’s defense locked down in the second half, limiting Quincy to 37 percent shooting from the field, including 0-of-7 from 3-point range.

“Good offense doesn’t always lead to good defense, but almost always good defense leads to better offense,” Wesley said.

The Lakers shot 50 percent from 3-point range in the second half, and 12-for-28 from 2-point range.

The post trio of Alexander, Chaz Rollins and Ricardo Carbajal rebounded well and matched Quincy’s physicality in the paint.

Alexander led GVSU with 10 rebounds, and added nine points. Rollins was key defensively, racking up five blocks. Carbajal finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

The second game of the weekend was much of the same for GVSU. After a tight first half, the Lakers outscored UMSL 38-29 in the second half, including 6-0 in the final three minutes to improve to 2-0.

Alexander led the Lakers, converting a contested layup with 48 seconds to go to send GVSU up 59-57. Senior Darren Kapustka hit two late free throws, and Alexander followed suit, nailing two of his own to seal the Laker win.

Alexander finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists.

“He was tremendous, particularly late, he came up with a couple great steals on the low post. He had a tremendous pass, a great finish off the glass late. He had 14 defensive finishes, that’s a ton. Fourteen times he gained possession of the ball for us. That was a yeoman effort for us,” Wesley said.

The Lakers struggled from the field, shooting just 38 percent on 55 shots. For the second consecutive game, however, GVSU excelled at the free throw line, knocking down 18-of-24 opportunities. UMSL earned just six free throw tries.

“Be aggressive, be aggressive, be aggressive,” Alexander said. “Coach is always pushing that – be aggressive on offense.”

Rollins added 11 points and seven rebounds, and guard Aaron Hayes scored nine points.

The Lakers assisted on just 10 buckets, and turned the ball over eight times. GVSU struggled to create clean looks at the basket and hoisted a number of deep shots late in the shot clock.

“I didn’t think the ball moved very well today,” Wesley said. “(The) ball was kind of sticking, guys weren’t making as good of decisions, we forced some shots today.

“Nothing was as fluid today as it was yesterday,” he said. “I think we were a little fatigued. Offensively I just didn’t think we shared or passed the ball very well today.”

GVSU shot 3-of-13 from the 3-point line. The Tritons shot 23-of-56 from the floor, including 9-of-26 from beyond the arc. GVSU outscored UMSL 28 to 14 in the paint, and held a 17 to 12 advantage in second-chance points.

The Lakers will return to action on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Fieldhouse Arena against 0-3 Olivet College.