Cullen Maksimowski, LSSULakers.com

MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Lake Superior State men's basketball team took down rival Northern Michigan Thursday evening in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic tilt inside the Wildcats' Berry Events Center.

With the win, the LSSU improves to 19-6 overall on the year with a 12-4 clip in league competition. NMU falls to 14-10, 12-5.

The Lakers finished the game shooting 49.2 (31-of-63) percent from the field and 40.0 (6-of-16) percent from behind the arc. The Wildcats shot 40.4 percent and 20.8 percent.

Lake Superior edged Northern on the glass, 28-27, in the contest. Forced turnovers were in favor of NMU, 7-4.

Senior guard Akaemji Williams paced Lake State offensively with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting and fell one assist shy of a double-double with nine assists on the night.

Michael Nicholson led the Lakers down low with a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with 16 points for his fifth double-double of the season. Josh Goldschmidt finished with 12 points.

Will Carius led the Northern Michigan offense with 21 points in the loss. Isaiah Johnson finished with 14

The Lakers will continue their U.P. road trip on Saturday (Feb.17) as they travel to Michigan Tech for a matchup with the Huskies at 3 p.m.

The Lakers return to Bud Cooper Gymnasium (Feb.22) as they play host to Grand Valley at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Norris Center Ticket Office or online at lssulakers.com/tickets.