SAULT STE MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State men's basketball dropped a close game by a final score of 69-63 to the Michigan Tech Huskies in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) game at the Bud Cooper Gymnasium.
The game was evenly matched between the two upper peninsula rivals as the Huskies outscored the Lakers 30-25 in the first half and 39-38 in the second half.
Ke'Montrece Collins would continue his strong play for the Lakers as he opened the game's scoring with a three-point jump shot and would make it a 5-2 game at 17:52 of the first half. At 15:39 of the first half, the Lakers would hit the double digit mark, taking an eight point lead over the Huskies (10-2) as C.J. Robinson sunk a three point basket.
The Huskies would go on an eight point run to tie the game at 12 apiece just before the halfway point of the first half. With five minutes left in the first half, play remained back-and-forth between the two teams with the Huskies leading by one point (22-21).
The first half would close with the Lakers trailing by five points (30-25) heading into the second half.
Collins would once again opening the scoring in the half as he made a jump shot to bring the Lakers within three points of the Huskies (30-27). At 16:18, Brandon Allen would cut the Huskies lead to two points when he netted a field goal for the Lakers.
Right around the halfway point of the second half, the Lakers and Huskies would trade points as the Huskies began to build upon their lead with a nine point advantage (50-41).
In the next three minutes of action, the game was taken over by Robinson for the Lakers as he scored six points for the Lakers to bring the home squad within six points (53-47) with 7:47 left to play. Collins then made a pair of free throws to make it a four point game with just over seven minutes left.
The Huskies would respond to the Lakers rally by scoring nine of the game's next 11 points to hold a 62-51 lead with 3:50 left in regulation time. The final two minutes of play saw the Lakers comeback fall just short to Tech as the game ended in a final score of 69-63.
Collins led the Lakers with 19 points in the game as well as 14 rebounds to record a double-double in the game. Nigel Colvin (13 points) and Robinson (11 points) rounded out the Lakers top three scorers in the game.
Up Next
Looking ahead, the Lakers will travel to Wisconsin Parkside on Thursday, Feb. 20 for a game at 8:30 p.m. and Purdue Northwest on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3:00 p.m.
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