Huge Second Half Pushes Men's Basketball Past Grand Rapids

Men's basketball came into this home contest looking to bounce back from a road loss to Bay College over the weekend. The Grand Rapids Community College Raiders came in hoping to continue their current winning streak of three in a row in Northern Conference play.

The game started with a slower tempo, a bit more calculated, and defensively oriented. Nearly four minutes into the game, there'd been just 8 points scored between the teams. From there, the offense caught fire, trading blows for the duration of the first half. The Lakers built their lead up as high as 8 points in the first half, while the Raiders battled to cut into the lead, including tying the game with 1:47 to play in the first half. The Lakers closed the half on a 7-3 run the final two minutes to take a 52-48 lead into the half.

The second half was dominated by the host Lakers. The second half was a track meet, consisting of scorching hot shooting, passing to the open man, and playing above the rim. There were several rim rocking dunks, some of which included a lob in transition to Nick Ellis, and a fast break jam for De'Antre Griffin. Potentially the most noteable was a posterizing jam on an athletic play in transition from Joe Iung, sending the crowd and bench into a frenzy towards the end of the game.

The Lakers ballooned the lead to over 40 points by the end of the contest, scoring 75 points in the second half. Potentially the most impressive statistic of all for the men was 20 assists and just 5 turnovers on the game. That's good for a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. 

Leading the way in scoring for the Lakers was Delon McCloud with 27 points on 11-20 shooting, including 4-9 from three. McCloud also racked up 5 assists and 4 rebounds. James Wright notched a monster double-double with 26 points on 11-14 shooting, while gathering 10 rebounds. Of his rebounds, 4 came on the offensive glass. Nick Ellis turned in a quality performance with 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. Devin Watts knocked down a pair of threes en route to a 13-point game. Jordan Chandler shot a clean 4-4 from the field, knocking down his only 3 point attempt, scoring a season-high 12 points. Chandler also added 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Joe Iung added 10 points including his highlight reel dunk.

The win pushed the Lakers record to 14-7 on the season. The men will return to action on Saturday, February 10th when they play host to the North Central Michigan Timberwolves. They are scheduled to tip after the women's game, at approximately 3:00 PM.