Ricky Carbajal said he believes the Grand Valley State men’s basketball team can band together in time for an 11th straight GLIAC Tournament appearance.

It won’t be easy.

Following a 78-75 home loss to Lake Superior State on Thursday and a 78-70 defeat at Northwood on Saturday, GVSU has 10 games left to make a run. In that stretch, the team plays seven North Division foes with a combined conference record of 59-25.

“We’ve just got to get our bodies right,” said Carbajal, who has been playing through a heel injury. “All these injuries are really affecting us, but we just have to have the right mindset. I truly believe we can go on a run and get to the conference tournament.”

The junior forward had game highs with 24 points and nine rebounds at the Bennett Center on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a torrid start from the Timberwolves.

After a turnover and a missed 3-pointer on its first two possessions, Northwood hit 11 of its next 13 shots. The offensive outburst included a jumper, two free throws, two dunks, three layups and a trio of trifectas.

GVSU battled back, made it an 11-point game at the break, outscored Northwood in the second half and shot 27 more free throws — but it was too little too late.

Northwood’s big three — Dylan Langkabel, Maurice Jones and Will Bowles — scored 19, 18 and 17 points, respectively. They combined to rack up 10 assists, nine rebounds and eight steals.

“To their credit, they were making shots,” Carbajal said. “Bowles played tough, he got a lot of fast breaks and dump-offs so that’s where a lot of their assists came from. Their guards were getting into our zone and breaking it down, and 25 (Langkabel) seemed like he was hitting every shot. If you gave him a little room he would knock it down.”

The defensive lapses seemed to carry over from the loss on Thursday night, when a physical Lake State found ways to maneuver through GVSU’s zone and hit key shots when it mattered.

The Soo Lakers led by as many as 11 in the second half, when they shot 7-of-16 from beyond the arc (43.8 percent) and made the most of their misses by corralling 11 offensive rebounds.

“They were the better team,” said GVSU coach Ric Wesley. “Our defense was not good at all in the second half in particular. We gave up way, way too many easy opportunities. We had bad closeouts, their ball movement was very good and we just broke down.

“We couldn’t find a defense to slow them down.”

Lake State’s Devin Daily had 17 points and eight rebounds. He was one of four LSSU players to reach double figures with Josh Blake (17 points), Alex Williams (15) and Tony Harris (11).

GVSU made some nice plays offensively, but never found its rhythm against a scrappy full-court press. LSSU scored 29 points off 18 GVSU turnovers.

Luke Ryskamp put together an impressive night for GVSU, recording game highs with 20 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Darren Kapustka tacked on 13 points, Trevin Alexander added 12 and Ryan Sabin had 10 after hitting a 3-pointer at the final buzzer.

“Like coach was saying in (the locker room) — maybe another minute and the game could have went another way. We never gave up,” Ryskamp said. “I don’t think our team’s about giving up. We’ll never give up, but we’ve just got to make the plays sooner in the game and turn it up defensively.”

GVSU has a chance to bounce back in a big way at Fieldhouse Arena on Thursday against C.J. Turnage and the Cardinals of Saginaw Valley State (14-3, 11-1 GLIAC) at 8 p.m.

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