CHICAGO – A furious second-half rally came up a hair short for Roosevelt in a 76-70 setback on Monday night at the Goodman Center in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference game against Grand Valley State.

A back-and-forth first half left the visitors up by a point at intermission, but Grand Valley State quickly took control of the game in the second half. Roosevelt's deficit grew to as many as 12 with 7:16 remaining before the Lakers began to mount their comeback attempt. Griffin Yaklich knocked down a 3-pointer to start a 14-2 run that tied the game with three and a half minutes left.

During the run, it was the Roosevelt defense that began to assume control, pressuring Grand Valley State into costly turnovers. The Lakers (5-11, 2-6 GLIAC) forced three of their eight takeaways during the stretch, scoring easy dunks off all three of those steals. Fred Robinson IV emphatically put down the tying dunk after jumping a passing lane to send the Goodman Center into an electric frenzy.

However, Grand Valley State responded with breaking its own nearly five-minute drought without a field goal, and never surrendered the lead. The visitors knocked down seven 3-pointers in the first half, most of which came in the first few minutes to help Grand Valley State build a sizable lead. Roosevelt stormed back with a 15-4 run in the middle of the first half, keyed by Enari Thomas and Robinson. The duo each scored five points during that stretch to help Roosevelt take its first lead of the game.

Thomas did much of his damage in the first half, scoring 14 of his 22 points in the opening 20 minutes of play to spark the Lakers. He finished an efficient 8 of 11 from the floor, but he carried the Roosevelt offense in the first half by shooting 4 of 6 from the field and 3 of 4 from the foul line. The rest of the team shot just 8 of 24 in the opening half, but managed to hold the lead for nearly eight minutes.

Robinson tied his season high with 16 points, scoring nine of those in the second half when he was an efficient 4 of 6. Yaklich nearly registered a double-double with 14 points and team-best nine rebounds while Thomas added seven boards of his own. Forte Prater dished out seven assists on an otherwise tough night for the shooter, and finished with nine points.

UP NEXT: The Lakers starts a four-game road trip Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m. matchup against Saginaw Valley State in University Center, Mich.