MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State (LSSU) men's basketball team (21-4, 12-3 GLIAC) earned an 80-74 road victory over the Northern Michigan (NMU) Wildcats (16-7, 10-5 GLIAC) in overtime on Thursday.

Tyson Edmondson (Ypsilanti, Mich.) opened up the game by splashing a three, but the Wildcats responded to take a three-point lead of their own. Momentum would swing back toward LSSU as Hunter Soper (Lexington, Mich.) sank back-to-back threes to put his team back in front. Both teams would then go back and forth, but Kingsley Perkins (Ypsilanti, Mich.) propelled his team to a 9-0 run, scoring six of them himself to pair with a Devin Womack (Ypsilanti, Mich.) and-one. Adam Harakow (Edmonton, Alta.) would then hit one more three for his team in the closing seconds of the opening half as the Lakers took a 34-26 lead into the break.

NMU fought back early in the second half, closing back to within two, but a pair of threes from Womack had his team back up by double digits. Both teams would then trade blows with neither side giving an inch, but the Wildcats would not go down so easily, tying up the score at 58-58 with a 7-0 run. Soper hit from beyond the arc to break the deadlock, but the Wildcats were able to knot things up at 65-65. Both teams had an opportunity to try and win the game in regulation, but 40 minutes would ultimately not be enough to decide a victor.

Perkins got the overtime period started with a layup inside, but Northern countered to tie the game. Soper would then jump the passing lane to steal the ball, taking it all the way to the rack for a dunk in transition, but the Wildcats responded with a three to take a one-point lead. Perkins grinded his way to the charity strip to retake the lead at the line, and after a crucial block by Soper to deny an NMU layup, the Lakers were able to close out the game at the free throw line in a hard-fought GLIAC road battle between Upper Peninsula rivals. 

Perkins led his team in scoring with 20 points on the night while also securing a game-high 12 rebounds. Soper and Edmondson each finished with 16 points of their own while Womack added 15. Meanwhile, Soper also put together a strong performance defensively with four steals and a block.

The Lakers return to action on Saturday, Feb. 15 when they face the Michigan Tech Huskies with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m.