SAULT STE. MARIE - After playing to a 22-21 defensive stalemate during the first half, Lake Superior State exploded for 42 second-half points to overtake Tiffin 64-27 during Saturday's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Bud Cooper Gymnasium.

With the win, the Lakers (12-2 overall) completed their run through the GLIAC South Division with a 7-1 record. They begin defense of their North Division title with Thursday's home game against 7-0 Saginaw Valley State (which had a late Saturday game against Wayne State).

Two days after relying on a late 18-2 run to beat Ohio Dominican, LSSU pulled away from Tiffin (5-10 overall, 1-7 GLIAC) thanks to a 17-2 run early in the second half. Sophomore guard Jordan Dasuqi scored eight straight LSSU points during the run, hitting three-pointers at 15:51 and 14:19, and a layup in-between. Freshman Mike Nicholson added two baskets, and sophomore Mike Smutny hit a triple for a 39-27 Laker lead with 11:54 remaining.

Lake Superior State maintained a double-digit lead after going ahead 48-48 after an Alex Williams steal and layup with 6:18 remaining.

LSSU struggled with shooting during the first half, making only 8-of-27 attempts for 29.6 percent. The Lakers bounced back to shoot 59.1 percent during the second half (13-of-22). Turnovers were problematic for Tiffin throughout the game. LSSU scored 18 points off 21 Tiffin turnovers and totaled 11 steals.

Dasuqi was 3-for-6 from behind the arc and led LSSU with a season-high 15 points. Williams added 13 points, six rebounds and five steals. Devin Daly and Smutny scored nine points each. Lake Superior State shot 42.9 percent from the field for the game, including 7-of-22 from three-point range, and made 15-of-20 free throws.

Alex Brown scored 11 points to lead Tiffin, which shot 41.7 percent from the field, including 4-of-12 from three-point range, and made 3-of-9 free throws. The Dragons out-rebounded LSSU, 35-28.

LSSU plays host to SVSU at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Boxscore