SAULT STE. MARIE - Grand Valley State held onto first place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference by beating Lake Superior State 75-73 in a men's basketball thriller Thursday at Bud Cooper Gymnasium.

Breland Hogan made two free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining to win the game for GVSU (18-6 overall, 14-5 GLIAC).

Lake Superior State (12-12 overall, 10-9 GLIAC) squandered a 12-point first-half lead, but battled back from an eight-point deficit during the last nine minutes of the second half. Junior guard Micah Hudson came off the bench and canned back-to-back three-pointers to cut GVSU's lead to 56-54 with 8:17 remaining.

Andrew Charlesworth made two free throws with 6:36 remaining to give LSSU at 60-58 lead. Grand Valley State went up by three, 65-62, with 4:29 to go, but Lake Superior State answered with field goals by Kyle Hunt and Garrett Konuszewski, and a three-pointer by Charlesworth to make it 69-65.

Hogan responded with a three-pointer that cut LSSU's four-point lead to one, 69-68, with 1:25 remaining. Alvin Storrs made two free throws at the 52-seconds mark, and added two more at :28 for a 72-69 GVSU edge.

After Konuszewski cut it to one with a jumper, Hogan made the first of two free throws. Hunt rebounded the miss and scored at the other end to tie it, 73-73, with 2 seconds left. LSSU inadvertently fouled just after the in-bounds pass, setting up Hogan's game-winning trip to the free-throw line.

Justin Ringler led GVSU with 20 points and five assists, while Hogan finished with 12 points. Grand Valley State shot 55.6 percent from the field, including 2-of-11 from three-point range, and made 23-of-30 free throws. GVSU held a 26-24 rebounding edge.

Charlesworth scored 15 points to lead LSSU. Hudson followed with 14, while Scott Perkins had 13 points and six assists. Hunt totaled nine points, seven assists and six rebounds.

LSSU made seven of its first 10 three-point field-goal attempts and finished 12-for-25 from behind the arc for 48 percent. The Lakers shot 54 percent from the field for the game and made 7-of-12 free throws.

Lake Superior State plays its final home game of the season at 3 p.m. Saturday against Ferris State. LSSU will pay tribute to seniors Perkins, Konuszewski and Jeremy Beasley.

LSSU vs. GVSU