The Grand Valley State men’s basketball team, effective in the paint all season, was unable to penetrate the wall built by Ashland University in the first round of the GLIAC tournament, and fell 67-58 to end its season.

The No. 7 seed Lakers (18-11, 12-10 GLIAC) snuck into the GLIAC tournament in the last game of the regular season, but No. 2 seed Ashland (25-4, 18-4 GLIAC), playing on its home court, stifled GVSU all night.

“They’re tough on defense, they’re the best defensive team in the league all year,” said GVSU head coach Ric Wesley. “Tonight they certainly showed why. They’re big, tall, strong, physical at every position. We just kind of struggled to get good offense, we never really got in good sync.”

Despite holding a 45-27 advantage in rebounds, the Lakers were unable to turn possessions into points. Ashland’s 6-foot-9-inch center Michael Hundley posted a Dikembe Mutombo-like stat line, racking up 10 blocked shots, despite not scoring a point, grabbing a rebound or dishing out an assist.

“Some of those inside baskets that we normally get in or draw fouls on didn’t go down for us tonight,” Wesley said. “(Hundley) protected the basket. Both AJ (Hayes) and Luke (Ryskamp) and our big guys couldn’t finish inside.”

Inside or outside made no matter, as the Lakers struggled to hit from all over the floor. Anchored by tight defense of their own, the Lakers led early in the first half, but never got hot enough to pull away. GVSU made just eight shots in the first half — and 19 in the game — en route to a dismal 32.8 shooting percentage.

The game never got out of hand, however, as GVSU displayed hallmark stingy defense as well. The Eagles shot 45.3 percent as a team, but were paced by effective shooting from Adrian Cook (8-of-13, 20 points) and Marsalis Hamilton (6-of-8, 15 points).

Hayes helped lead the Lakers with 14 points of his own, but shot just 4-of-14 and wasn’t able to get to the free throw line as often as he had in other games this season. Junior Trevin Alexander represented GVSU’s best offensive option on the night, also scoring 14 points, but on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting.

Ricardo Carbajal added 10 points, and senior Chaz Rollins scored eight points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. GVSU’s leading scorer for the majority of the season, Ryskamp, struggled mightily as well, shooting 2-of-12 for seven points.

“(The Eagles) were strong, athletic and I think they were very well-coached tonight and we just couldn’t get it going offensively,” said GVSU senior Darren Kapustka. “We struggled to find a rhythm.”

The Lakers were plagued by 16 team turnovers, and Ashland scored 24 points off turnovers compared to GVSU’s eight. The loss marked the last game for four GVSU seniors — Hayes, Carbajal, Kapustka and Rollins.

“At the beginning of this year, we weren’t sure how the season was going to end up going after last season,” Carbajal said. “I’m not ashamed or anything, I’m pretty happy with how this team bounced back from last season.”

The Lakers finished 13-15 in the 2014-15 campaign, and missed out on the GLIAC tournament. This year’s turnaround was encouraging for those within the program.

“We were talented,” Kapustka said. “We had a lot of ups and downs, and one thing I’d say is we’ve responded to adversity time and time again. I think this team was very resilient throughout the season. Nothing was given to us and we had to work hard for everything we had.”