The Lake Superior State men’s basketball team recorded a 80-60 win on Friday, February 12 to open the weekend before falling 86-70 to the Northwood University Timberwolves on Saturday, February 13 at the Riepma Arena in Midland, Michigan in the opening game of a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) series.

Kemon Bassett opened the game’s scoring with a pair of layups in the first minute of play to give the Lakers an early 4-0 lead. C.J. Robinson, who recorded a steal that led to Bassett’s second layup, would put the Lakers up by four points with 16:49 left in the opening half with a three pointer.

After the Timberwolves brought the score within two points, the Lakers scored six straight points to hold an eight point lead (13-5) with 14:36 left in the half. Northwood’s offense would respond with an eight point run in the following minutes to tie the game at 13 by the halfway point of the first half.

The score would remain tied for the next three minutes as neither team scored again until Justin Fischer made a layup with 7:36 left in the half to give the Lakers a 15-13 lead.

Malek Adams made back-to-back three pointers for the Lakers to put the visiting team ahead by seven points with just under five minutes left in the opening half (22-15). In the final minutes of the half, the two teams would exchange points and the first twenty minutes closed with the Lakers leading, 28-25.

Second Half
Northwood would outscore the Lakers, 61-42, in the second half to split the weekend series.

David Wren scored the first five points of the half for the Lakers as LSSU held a 33-32 lead over the Timberwolves after two minutes of play. Adams and Bassett both added layups to keep the game close with Northwood holding a three point lead (40-37) with 15:50 remaining on the clock.

In the following stretch of play, the Timberwolves would score 12 of the game’s next 13 points to hold a 52-38 lead with 12:36 left.

Adams snapped the run for Northwood as he made a three point jumper to bring the Lakers within 11 points with over 12 minutes still left to play (52-41).

With just under five minutes left, Bassett made a layup to cut the Lakers deficit to 12 points (69-57) but the Lakers could not stop the Timberwolves offense in the final minutes of play.

The game ended with Northwood recording an 86-70 win over the Lakers.

Breaking Down the Game
Adams led the Lakers with 28 points in the game as he approaches 1,000 career points in his time as a Laker. Adams went 11-for-18 in the game, including four three pointers while also adding four rebounds, an assist, two steals and a block. Bassett ranked second among his teammates with 17 points in the game while also contributing four rebounds and a pair of blocks. Wren rounded out the Lakers top three scorers in the game as he totaled 13 points.

The Lakers finished the game with a 44.6 shooting percentage, going 25-for-56 in the game. On the other end of the floor, the Timberwolves went 28-for-52 in the game to total a 53.8 shooting percentage. Lake Superior State was outrebounded by Northwood, 33-25, in the game.

Game One (February 12)
First Half
The Lakers had a solid first half over the Timberwolves to hold a 50-28 lead after 20 minutes.

With constant scoring between the two teams in the early stages of the game, all five of the Lakers starting lineup had points within the first five minutes of the half. David Wren would make a three point jump shot with 16:11 left in the half to put the Lakers ahead 12-8.

Later in the first half, the Lakers would go on a stretch where they scored eight of 10 points in the contest to hold a 20-12 lead with just under 13 minutes remaining. Sophomore guard Xander Okerlund would cap off that run with a shot from beyond the arc to give the Lakers the eight point advantage.

With 9:14 left to play in the first half, Justin Fischer made a three pointer to bring the Lakers lead to 14 points over the Timberwolves (29-15).

The Lakers would go on another run of eight straight points, beginning with Dan Few scoring on a layup at the 7:49 mark. By the end of that run, the Lakers held a 20 point lead (37-17) over Northwood with 5:40 left in the half.

In the final four minutes of the half, the Lakers would close strong with Brandon Allen leading the way with seven points.

With a 22 point lead at the start of the second half, the Lakers defense was tasked with keeping the Timberwolves offense from finding a way back into the game. The Lakers would score 30 points in the half while the Timberwolves added 32 points.

In the first four minutes of play in the second half, only eight points total were scored as the Lakers held onto the lead (54-32). With 11:34 left on the clock, Okerlund added another three point jump shot to extend the Lakers lead to 62-45.

Malek Adams would record consecutive layups for the Lakers to bring the team’s lead to 66-45 at the halfway point of the second half.

The Lakers would hold on to the lead in the final ten minutes of the second half to secure the road win by a final score of 80-60 for the team’s sixth win of the season.

Breaking Down the Game
Wren led the Lakers with 17 points in the game as well as four rebounds and five assists. Including Wren, four Lakers finished with double figure point totals in the game. Adams ranked second among his teammates with 14 points while also recording five rebounds and a team-high four steals.

The Lakers finished the game with a 52.4 shooting percentage, going 33-for-63 in the game. On the other end of the floor, the Timberwolves went 23-for-53 in the game to total a 43.4 shooting percentage. Lake Superior State outrebounded Davenport, 40-26, in the game.

What’s Next
The Lakers will host the Ferris State Bulldogs for a single game in the Bud Cooper Gymnasium on Tuesday, February 16 at 6:00 p.m. The two GLIAC teams played the first game of their season series earlier this year at the Jim Wink Arena with the Lakers winning, 80-69.

Source: LSSU Lakers Athletics