DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (4-7 overall, 1-6 GLIAC) lost to 18th-ranked Grand Valley State (13-2 overall, 6-1 GLIAC), 71-64, inside the Matthaei on Saturday night. The Lakers led by as many as 14, but the Warriors cut the deficit to three late in the game. The second comeback attempt is as many games would fall short as the Lakers escaped with a hard-fought win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lakers led 7-1 at the 17:23 mark, but a 7-0 run gave the Warriors an 8-7 advantage after a triple from sophomore
LJ DeWolf (Ypsilanti, Mich.) with 14:50 to play before halftime. Both defenses turned up the heat and GVSU led 9-8 at the arrival of the under-12 minute media timeout. Graduate student James Gordon (Shelbyville, Ky. / Chicago Simeon) connected from behind the arc to give WSU an 11-9 lead at the 11-minute mark. GVSU held onto a 20-13 advantage after a bucket from John Slater with 7:05 left before halftime. A jumper from sophomore guard
Antonio Marshall (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King) cut the deficit to eight, 23-15, at the 5:27 mark and a deep three-pointer by senior guard
Brailen Neely (Detroit, Mich. / Western International) made it 28-21 in favor of the visitors with two minutes to play before intermission. Another long-range jumper from Neely brought the Green & Gold within four, 28-24, at the 1:20 mark, but GVSU led 30-24 at halftime.
Freshman forward
Nate Talbot (Lake Orion, Mich.) made his first field goal of the contest at the 18:32 mark of the second half to trim the GVSU advantage to 34-26 and a tough, contested layup by Neely made it a six-point game, 36-30, with 16:46 remaining. Jake Van Tubbergen extended the Lakers lead to 11, 41-30, with a conventional three-point play at the 14:17 mark. A three-pointer from DeWolf with 13:15 left to play kept WSU within 10, 43-33. A trey by Gordon followed by a layup from Neely cut the deficit to seven, 47-40, at the 11-minute mark. However, GVSU regained its double-digit lead, 52-40, after a Van Tubbergen old-fashioned three-point play with 9:32 left in the contest. Five straight points from Neely brought WSU within nine, 54-45, at the 8:04 mark. A 12-foot jumper by Gordon kept the Warriors close, 63-55, with four minutes left. Neely continued to have the hot hand and another bucket made it 63-59 at the 2:56 mark. After Neely converted a contested layup, Marshall connected on one of his two free throw attempts to pull Wayne State within three at 65-62. Neely kept it a three-point game. 67-64, after scoring his 31st and 32nd points of the night with 16 seconds left to play. Unfortunately, those would be the final points for the home side as the Lakers went on to win 71-64.
LEADING THE WARRIORS
Neely missed matching his career-high by one point and finished with 32 points on 13-of-20 shooting, including three first half triples. He also tallied eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals in 40 minutes of action. Gordon collected 13 points and seven boards.
LEADING THE LAKERS
GVSU's attack was a bit more balanced as Van Tubbergen notched 23 points along with a game-high 13 rebounds, while Christian Negron posted a 13-point performance. Jeremiah Ferguson had 11 points.
ONE BIG THING
Offensive rebounds proved to be a major key in the contest as the Lakers pulled down 14, leading to 18 second-chance points compared to WSU's eight offensive rebound and seven second-chance points.
UP NEXT
Wayne State will hit the road and play at Parkside on Thursday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
