LEBANON, Ill. - The No. 22 Lake Superior State (LSSU) men's basketball team ground out a 59-46 win over the Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) Tritons at the McKendree DII Classic on Thursday.

The Tritons jumped out to an early 10-3 lead that was broken up by a three from Hunter Soper (Lexington, Mich.), but the Lakers got back to within one with a 6-0 run of their own. A Harrison Sorrelle (Grand Haven, Mich.) would then knot up the score at 12-12 as both teams continued to battle throughout a low-scoring opening half. Both teams continued to grind out every point they could, but it was LSSU that ended the half with momentum as Devin Womack (Ypsilanti, Mich.) quickly found Soper racing the floor for a layup a second before the buzzer sounded to send the Lakers into the locker room leading 27-24.

The Lakers continued to search for a rhythm offensively in the second half, and they would find it in the form of threes from Soper, Adam Harakow (Edmonton, Alta.), and Tyler Jamison (Port Huron, Mich.) as they suddenly found themselves leading by double digits. Soper would then prove to have the hot hand, leading his team on a 14-1 run in which he scored 11 of the Lakers' points in that span while Andy Soma (Traverse City, Mich.) fired in a three of his own as well, putting LSSU ahead by 20, their largest lead of the night. Soper would then throw down a dunk to cap off an impressive night individually and close out the victory for his team. 

Soper ended the night leading all players with 21 points while also securing 8 rebounds and a pair of steals. Harakow also finished in double-digits with 13 points of his own, and Womack dished out 6 assists. 

The Lakers are now set to face the host team, McKendree, on Friday, Nov. 22 with tipoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m.