SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The No. 14 Lake Superior State (LSSU) men's basketball team (12-2, 3-1 GLIAC) came away with an emphatic 73-44 victory over the visiting Cardinals of Saginaw Valley State (SVSU) (5-7, 1-3 GLIAC) on Saturday. 

Hunter Soper (Lexington, Mich.) opened up the scoring for the Lakers with a three ball, and a few minutes later, Nino Carter-Smith (Warren, Mich.) found himself wide open for a three of his own as both teams battled early. Then, midway through the opening half, the Lakers seized control with a 14-3 run that featured an old-fashioned three-point play from Andy Soma (Traverse City, Mich.) after Tyson Edmondson (Ypsilanti, Mich.) quickly pushed the ball up the floor on the assist. Kingsley Perkins (Ypsilanti, Mich) would then go to work in the paint with multiple baskets for the Lakers, including an exclamation point of a dunk immediately following a steal by Carter-Smith, helping LSSU to close out the half with a 12-4 run and take a 38-24 advantage into the break. 

Both teams battled early in the second stanza, but the Lakers were once again able to find their rhythm, this time with an 11-0 run to extend the lead to 23 points. Edmondson would then proceed to score 11 straight points for the Lakers as LSSU closed out a dominant performance. 

Edmondson led all scorers with 19 points on the day, followed by Perkins (13), and Devin Womack (Ypsilanti, Mich.) (12) as the Ypsilanti trio all found themselves in double figures. Meanwhile, Soper led all players with 12 rebounds, and Adam Harakow (Edmonton, Alta.) took care of business on the defensive end of the floor with three steals and a block.

The Lakers return to action on Thursday, Jan. 9 when they host the Davenport Panthers with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.