Sports

Winning streak snapped as men's basketball falls to Northern at home

By Jared Greenleaf GVL Senior Reporter
1/31/2010

At some point in time, all streaks, no matter how great or how short, must come to an end.

Saturday became that time for the Grand Valley State University men's basketball team as the Lakers lost a thriller 61-58 game against Northern Michigan University at the Fieldhouse Arena.

The Wildcat victory snapped GVSU's 11-game winning streak. It was the team's first loss since dropping a Dec. 12 decision to the University of Findlay.

Down by one with less than a minute left in the game, junior forward Justin Ringler made a potential lead-taking basket but was then negated, however, by a traveling violation.

The no-basket call infuriated GVSU head coach Ric Wesley.

"It was unbelievable," Wesley said. "Lot of contact-- bump bump, bump, shot, bank shot goes in-- I'm thinking it's a 3-point play. Unfortunately, it was a tough call that went against us."

Ringler, who finished with 11 points, said in any situation, the call was a difficult one to make.

"At that point in the game, they're not really going to call a foul," he said. "You kind of hope if they don't call a foul they might not call any extra slide of the foot, but he made the call and I'll have to live with it, I guess."

The Lakers (15-4, 11-3 GLIAC) were forced to foul on the Northern Michigan inbound pass, and Wildcat guard Marc Renelique sunk two free throws to give his team a three-point lead.

With five seconds remaining, the Lakers had one last opportunity to tie the game, but junior forward Toreau Brown's 3-point attempt rang off the iron as time expired.

The Wildcat defense frustrated the Lakers throughout most of the contest by holding them to 33.3 percent shooting from the field. Ringler said the zone defense the Wildcats ran against them was difficult to solve.

"Their zone worked really well for them," he said. "They had guys in the right spots, and they were really able to reach in and swat at the ball. It was hard to get in there and still stop because they had always had two arms coming at you. We just never got into the rhythm we normally get into offensively."

The Lakers had hoped for a victory to set up a battle with the first place University of Findlay Oilers (16-3, 12-2 GLIAC) on Thursday.

Brown, who tied his career high with 22 points for the Lakers, said with the loss there will still be plenty of motivation to take on the Oilers.

"I feel that if we were going to take a loss, we needed it now," he said. "We had a lot of guys getting complacent from our winning streak and how good everything was going. Hopefully that was a little punch in the face, letting us know we have to bump it up a little more."

Before the Lakers took on the Wildcats, they managed to defeat Michigan Tech University 59-42 on Thursday.

The Lakers came out firing in the first half, connecting on 13-of-25 field goals to pull out to a 31-14 lead at halftime. In the first 20 minutes the Laker defense forced the Huskies in 11 turnovers, which translated into 14 points off turnovers. The second half was no different as the Lakers continued to demoralize the Huskies, extending their lead to 47-26 on a dunk by junior guard K'Len Morris.

Sophomore guard Alvin Storrs provided a solid all-around game for the Lakers by generating 11 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.

The Lakers will take on Findlay on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Fieldhouse Arena. On Saturday, the Lakers will play host to Hillsdale College at 8 p.m.

jgreenleaf@lanthorn.com

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