SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State men's basketball team, who finished as the No. 6 seed in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) regular season standings, will travel to Marquette, Mich. to take on the No. 3 seeded Northern Michigan Wildcats in the GLIAC Quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. in the Berry Events Center.
Last Time Out
The Lakers closed out the GLIAC regular season last weekend at home against the Wildcats and the Michigan Tech Huskies. The Lakers dropped their game against the Wildcats on Thursday, Feb. 22 by a final score of 102-69 and followed with a loss to the Michigan Tech Huskies on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 65-56. Heading into Wednesday's quarterfinal game, the Lakers have totaled a 16-10 overall record and a 11-9 mark in GLIAC competition.
In Thursday's game against the Wildcats, the Lakers were led by redshirt senior Malek Adams who led the team with 14 points in the game while also adding three assists and two rebounds for the Lakers. Wren followed with 13 points against the Wildcats as he went 6-for-7 from the field. Bassett rounded out the team's top three scorers as he posted 12 points in the game. Bassett was tied with Kingsley Perkins for the team-lead in rebounds with five.
Against the Huskies on Saturday afternoon, Adams finished the game with a team-high 28 points in his final game in the Bud Cooper as he went 11-for-18 from the field which included a team-high three pointers. Adams also added four rebounds and three assists for the Lakers in the game. Wren posted 11 points for the Lakers in the game as he ranked second among his teammates. Bassett led the Lakers with seven rebounds.
The Lakers
The Lakers are led by Steve Hettinga, the all-time winningest coach in Laker Basketball history, who enters his 15th season in the role. Hettinga reached the milestone of 250 wins at LSSU in the team's 75-72 win over Grand Valley on Feb. 3. Assistant coach Ted Stowe returns for his fifth season in the role on Hettinga's staff while assistant coach Hugh Clarke joins the staff for his first season. Through 26 games of the regular season, the Lakers have averaged 76.8 points per game, which ranks tied for fourth in the GLIAC, on a 45.8 shooting percentage and 31.8 rebounds per game.
Lake Superior State will be led by a strong senior class which includes returners Kemon Bassett, Malek Adams, C.J. Robinson, David Wren, Justin Fischer and transfer Caden Ebeling, who joins the Lakers after a solid career at Albion College. Hettinga will look to this group's leadership on-and-off the court this season. Bassett, who was recently named to the All-GLIAC North Preseason Team.
For their play during the 2020-21 season, junior forward Kemon Bassett was named First Team All-GLIAC, redshirt senior guard Malek Adams was named Second Team All-GLIAC and junior guard C.J. Robinson was named to the All-GLIAC Defensive Team.
Lake Superior State will also be returning a junior class of Dan Few and Xander Okerlund as well as sophomores Blake Cassidy and Andy Soma.
Hettinga's squad will welcome a large freshman class this season with seven student-athletes joining the Lakers. The freshman class includes three players from Ann Arbor Huron High School (Tyson Edmondson, Kingsley Perkins and Devin Womack) who will look to build on their chemistry and success from their high school careers at the collegiate level. The remaining first-year players include Drew Hess, a 6-2 guard from Oscoda, Mich., Ben Patrick, a 6-2 guard from Oklahoma City, Okla., Kendall Smith, a 6-8 forward from Muskegon, Mich., and Hunter Soper, a 6-6 forward/guard from Lexington, Mich.
Leading the Lakers
Through the regular season, the Lakers have been led offensively by the pair of Adams and Bassett as both rank in the top-11 scorers in the conference. Adams leads the team with 19.0 points per game which is second-best in the GLIAC this season. In addition, Adams ranks seventh in the conference in assists per game this season (3.6) and tied for second in steals per game (1.6). Bassett, who has played in 18 games for the Lakers this season, ranks second on the team, and 11th in the GLIAC with 14.2 points per game. The Detroit, Mich. native also ranks among the top of the conference in both assists per game (3.8) and blocks per game (1.1). He is tied for sixth in assists per game and fourth in blocks per game. Bassett also leads the team in rebounds with 5.2 per game.
Justin Fischer, who averages 7.9 points per game this season, has totaled a 54.8 shooting percentage which is seventh-best in the GLIAC at the close of the regular season. Fischer, who ranks second on the Lakers in rebounds (5.0), also leads his teammates in assists per game (4.2). Fischer ranks fifth in the GLIAC in assists per game. Edmondson tops all conference players in three-point shooting percentage this season with a 47.5 % mark.
The Northern Michigan Wildcats
The Northern Michigan Wildcats have totaled a 16-11 overall record through the regular season and posted a 12-8 mark in conference play to clinch the No. 3 seed in the GLIAC Tournament. NMU enters the playoffs riding a seven game win streak, dating back to Feb. 5. The Wildcats have defeated the Lakers in the two meetings between the two U.P. schools this season, winning the first game on Dec. 11 by a score of 74-72 and last Thursday's matchup by a 102-69 margin. The Wildcats have averaged 79.5 points per game this season, which is second-best in the conference, on a 45.0 shooting percentage and 36.5 rebounds per game. Northern Michigan is led by senior guard Max Bjorklund who averages a team-high 16.2 points per game and is coming off a 46-point performance in NMU's most recent win. Bjorklund ranks eighth in the GLIAC in points per game and is second behind Edmondson in three-point percentage (47.4%). Graduate-student forward John Kerr follows as the second-highest scorer on the Wildcats with 12.2 points per game this season. Kerr's 57.7 shooting percentage ranks third in the GLIAC while his 7.8 rebounds per game is fifth-best in the conference. The Wildcats are led by Matt Majkrzak, who is in his third season in the role at Northern Michigan.
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