COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Lake Superior State men's basketball program (1-4) fell to the St. Michael's Purple Knights (6-1) at the Eracism Invitational by a final score of 68-58 on Saturday.

Kingsley Perkins (Ypsilanti, Mich.) opened up the scoring for the Lakers as both teams battled early. The Purple Knights were able to pull out ahead, but threes from Xander Okerlund (Empire, Mich.) and Andy Soma (Traverse City, Mich.) helped keep the Lakers within striking distance. However, St. Michaels was able to convert a three of their own at the end of the half to take a 35-26 lead into the break.

St. Michaels came out strong early in the second half, but the Lakers were able to weather the storm with four points from Caden Ebeling (Shelby Twp., Mich.) helping his team to a 6-0 run to bring the Lakers back to within five. The Purple Knights were once again able to extend their lead, but threes from Blake Cassidy (Pellston, Mich.) and David Wren (Ypsilanti, Mich.) propelled the Lakers to a 9-0 run to cut the lead down to a single point. Then the Lakers would take the lead with a dunk from Tyson Edmondson (Ypsilanti, Mich.). However, despite baskets from Ebeling and Kemon Bassett (Detroit, Mich.), St. Michaels was able to close out the game scoring 11 unanswered points to take the victory by a final score of 68-58.

Despite the loss, three different Lakers scored double-figures, led by Bassett with 13 with Ebeling and Wren right behind him with 12 each. In addition, Bassett also led all players in rebounding with nine.

The Lakers return to action on Thursday, Dec. 1 when they host the Davenport Panthers to open Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.