UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - In a battle for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division lead, Lake Superior State men's basketball fell to Saginaw Valley 75-70 on Thursday night.

The setback was just the third overall for the Lakers (12-3, 7-2) this season, but their second in their last three GLIAC meetings.

Despite a career-high 36 points and four assists by guard Akaemji Williams, the Lakers could not find an answer for the combination of SVSU's Damon Bozeman scoring 22 points and C.J. Turnage netting 20 points. Bozeman also collected a game-high eight rebounds while Turnage added six.

A tight game early on, the Lakers held a 12-11 lead with 13:44 remaining in the first half after a Jake Blake layup. Blake finished with six points and a team-high seven rebounds off of the bench.

The Cardinals (12-3, 8-1 GLIAC) regained the lead a minute later on Mike Well's only bucket of the night. A 9-to-2 run moments later helped SVSU take a 34-28 lead into halftime.

The Lakers were beaten on the glass during the first half, 19-11.

Devin Daly, the Lakers' leading scorer this season (22.1 points per game), was limited to just four points and two rebounds in 12 minutes of first-half action. Daly finished the game with 15 points and five rebounds on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor.

During the second half Williams exploded for 23 of his 36 points on the night with a pair of threes and shooting 10-of-18 from the floor during 19 minutes of work.

Daly also began to find his stride during the final 20 minutes, scoring 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-for-3 from the free throw line.

Even while facing a deficit as high as 13 points in the second half, Williams and company willed themselves back into the game and trailed 65-64 following a Daly layup with 3:39 left in the game.

Turnage, Bozeman and Garrett Hall helped close out the game with timely layups and sure-shooting from the free throw line, while the Lakers' shooting cooled off, going 0-for-3 from behind the arc following the Daly lay-in.

Hall finished with 13 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes of reserve duty.

Both teams scored 38 points in the paint but the Cardinals dominated the glass to produce a rebounding victory of 42-26.

The Lakers look to right the ship on Saturday when they travel to Hillsdale. Tip-off for Saturday's game is slated for 3 p.m. and a free video stream of the action is available at hillsdalestreaming.sidearmsports.com/watch.

Following the men's and women's basketball games on Saturday, the LSSU Alumni Association is teaming up with LSSU's Admissions office to host a post-game social at Johnny T's Bistro on South Street in Hillsdale. There will be free appetizers and Laker themed prize drawings. Event hosts are Alumni Director, Susan Fitzpatrick '87, Todd Capling '06 and Admissions Advisor, Dennis Niles '90.