SAGINAW, Mich. - The Lake Superior State men's basketball team fell to the Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals on Thursday, Jan. 11 in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) game by a final score of 79-66.
In the first half, the Lakers grabbed an early 5-0 lead over the Cardinals thanks to a dunk by Justin Fischer and a three point jump shot from Jackson Schrameyer. By the 14 minute mark of the first half, the Lakers were ahead 14-9 with Fischer (9 pts.) and Schrameyer (5 pts.) scoring all of the Lakers points. The next few minutes of play saw very little offense from either team but the Cardinals were able to take advantage in order to tie the game at 14 at 10:23.
C.J. Robinson would go on a run of his own scoring seven straight points for the Lakers, giving the team a 25-22 lead with five minutes left in the half. In the final two minutes, Xander Okerlund would net two three point shots to give the Lakers an eight point lead. SVSU would cut the Lakers lead in half, as the first half ended with the Lakers leading 35-31.
To open the second half, Robinson would net a three point shot to put the Lakers ahead by a score of 38-33. The Cardinals would respond by scoring 10 unanswered points to take their own five point lead over the Lakers at 14:38 of the second half (43-38).
With just under ten minutes left in regulation time, the Lakers were able to bring the score back within five points (51-46). However, with five minutes left in the game, Lake State's deficit was 10 points (66-56) as the team could not find a way to shut down the Cardinals offense in the second half.
At the two minute mark of time remaining in the game, the Lakers were trailing by 16 points and the game would end with the Cardinals recording the victory by a final score of 79-66. The Lakers would outscore SVSU by a 35-31 margin in the first half but the Cardinals would hold the advantage in the second half, 48-31.
Fischer and Robinson shared the team lead as they each recorded 16 points in the game. Fischer also recorded five assists in the game, which ranked first on the team. Xander Okerlund, who added eight points for the Lakers, led the team with seven rebounds.
Up Next
The Lakers will play GLIAC opponent Northwood on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3:00 p.m. in Midland, Mich.
The Lakers will then continue the stretch of road games next weekend as the team heads to the western Upper Peninsula to take on Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. Lake State will play the Huskies on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. followed by a game on Saturday, Jan. 18 against the Wildcats at 1:00 p.m.
For more information, visit lssulakers.com
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