Red-Hot Lakers Shoot Down Eagles Men
December 4, 2003

Complete Box Score

Like Sherwin Williams, the Grand Valley State Lakers know paint.

The Lakers scored 54 points in the paint Thursday night (Dec. 4) at Kates Gymnasium on the way to a 94-84 triumph over Ashland. The game was the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for both teams.

Scoring that much in the paint helped the Lakers (6-1) shoot 67.3 percent for the game. The Lakers hit 37 of 55 shots from the field. GVSU shot 65.6 percent in the first half and 69.6 percent in the second half. The Lakers’ accuracy wasn’t limited to shots from the key, however. Grand Valley nailed eight of 11 shots from three-point range.

Sophomore guard Courtney James scored a game-high 20 points and collected 12 assists for the Lakers. Freshman guard Mike Hall had 19 points and junior forward Marcus Wallace had 16 points.

Grand Valley was in front, 50-37 at halftime and that lead grew to 18 points, 73-55 with 10:33 remaining in regulation. Ashland (3-3/0-1) got no closer than nine points the rest of the way – the last time with 32 seconds to play.

Outside of the shooting, the stat sheet was nearly a draw. AU led the rebounding wars, 26-25 and both teams had 13 turnovers. Ashland (3-3) shot 57.9 percent from the field, 63.3 percent in the second half.

Junior point guard Michael Fowler led Ashland with 18 points. Freshman guard Alex Jones came off the bench to score 17 points. Junior forward Kevin Shorter had 14 points and eight boards. Sophomore center Justin Brown pulled down eight rebounds.