CHICAGO – Roosevelt held its nerve down the stretch to win a back-and-forth 78-77 contest against Purdue Northwest on Thursday evening at the Goodman Center.

It was the Lakers' first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory and it took every bit of the 40 minutes between the two teams. The lead changed hands 12 times and the contest was tied on 12 occasions, but it was Roosevelt that held onto the lead when it mattered most down the stretch.

The Lakers (4-7, 1-2 GLIAC) took the lead for good with 3:36 left when Ramean Hinton knocked down the first of his two free throws to break a 68-68 deadlock. Forte Prater extended the lead to 71-68 on Roosevelt's next possession and although the Pride made things interesting, the Lakers preserved the lead with strong free throw shooting. Roosevelt made 12 of 14 from the line in the second half while Purdue Northwest missed nine free throws in the final 20 minutes.

It was the last missed free throw that ultimately cost the Pride as they drew a foul with less than a second on the clock, but missed the front end of the two shots. An attempted miss found its way into the basket and the Lakers ran out the clock with a long inbound toss to Kennedy Brown in the frontcourt. 

Hinton led the four Lakers who finished in double figures with a career-best 24 points, knocking down half of his 10 3-point attempts and 9 of 17 overall from the field. He also added seven rebounds, which ranked second on the team behind Griffin Yaklich, who flirted with a triple-double. The graduate transfer scored 14 points and secured 11 rebounds while leading the team with seven assists as well. Prater and Enari Thomas both finished with 13 points each as well.

Roosevelt's biggest lead of the game came courtesy of an 11-3 run that gave the Lakers a nine-point edge with 12 minutes left in the opening half. That advantage quickly disappeared in three minutes and neither side led by more than a possession for the remainder of the first half. Purdue Northwest came out and extended its lead to a game-high six early in the second half, but the Lakers chipped away before tying the game with a Yaklich 3-pointer with 13:12 remaining.

UP NEXT: The Lakers will try to string together a winning streak Monday evening at Parkside in Kenosha, Wis. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. against the Rangers.