Ferris State Battles To The Wire At Lake Superior State In HIgh-Scoring Setback

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's basketball squad returned to the floor on Tuesday (Feb. 16) night, falling to Lake Superior State 84-82 in a game that went to the wire at Bud Cooper Gymnasium in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Bulldogs and the Lakers were deadlocked at 41 points apiece at halftime. LSSU pushed the margin to double-digits in the second half and held a 14-point edge with six minutes to play.

Lake Superior State's lead remained at 10 points with just over four minutes to go before the Bulldogs rallied. FSU cut the margin to a single basket with 20 seconds to go, but could get no closer as the Lakers held on for the win.

Ferris State's Ben Davidson tallied a career-high 24 points off the bench in leading the Bulldogs with fellow sophomore Deng Reng adding 19 points on seven-of-nine shooting. Senior guard Walt Kelser totaled 15 points and Vejas Grazulis notched 10 points in the setback.

The Bulldogs converted at a. 46.2% clip for the night, but were only six-of-21 (28.6%) from long range in addition to making 16-of-21 (76.2%) free throws.

Meanwhile, the Lakers got 23 points from Malek Adams in addition to 14 by David Wren. Xander Okerlund notched 13 points off the bench and Justin Fischer added 12 for LSSU, which shot 47.5% overall. 

Lake Superior State also sank 11-of-30 (36.7%) three's and went 15-of-30 (50%) at the charity stripe while owning a 38-35 rebounding edge.

In addition to scoring 19 points, Reng added six boards and six assists for the Bulldogs with a blocked shot. Senior forward Michael Peterson and Davidson also added six rebounds apiece.

The Bulldogs will return home and host Purdue Northwest in their final two regular-season home games on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19-20, at FSU's Jim Wink Arena. Both games get underway at 4 p.m. (ET).