ALLENDALE, Mich. â€Â“ The Northern Michigan University menâ€Â™s basketball team proved why they are one of the hottest teams in the GLIAC. Theâ€Â˜Cats went into Grand Valley State University and soundly defeated the Lakers,who are the top team in the GLIAC North, by a 69-56 score.  With the win theâ€Â˜Cats won their fifth straight game and are now 10-10 overall on the season and5-6 in the GLIAC.  The Lakers fall to 14-6 and 7-4 respectively.

The Lakers held a slight lead early on at 6-4 before MattLePage tied the game at six-all at the 15:10 mark of the first half.  From thatpoint on in the game the â€Â˜Cats controlled the pace.  Marco Volcy made a jumperand then sank the free throw on the three-point play to give the â€Â˜Cats theirbiggest lead of the half at 29-16 with 5:18 left before intermission. 

The Lakers cut the â€Â˜Cats lead down to four points at 12:47left in the game, before Jake Suardini canned a three-pointer and M. Volcy madea free throw to give NMU the eight point cushion at 45-37.  Over the next threeminutes of the game the Lakers cut the â€Â˜Cats lead down to seven points beforeRicky Volcy made two free throws which was then followed by a three-pointer byNick Buck with 6:40 left in the game to give the â€Â˜Cats a double-digit lead of 12points at 57-45.  With less than four minutes left in the game the Lakers hadthe lead down to single-digits at 57-48, but made free throws by the Volcybrothers sealed the win for the â€Â˜Cats.

NMU shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half of thegame (15-30) and 44.9 percent for the game (22-49), from the three-point linethe â€Â˜Cats were 7-15 on the night for 46.7 percent.  NMU was 18-33 from thecharity stripe (54.5 percent).  The NMU defense held GVSU to 33.3 percentshooting for the night (20-60).  On the boards the â€Â˜Cats crashed the glass for42 total rebounds as the Lakers grabbed 39.  GVSU did manage 16 offensiverebounds to 13 for NMU.

The Volcy brothers led the â€Â˜Cats in the scoring column asRicky had 21 points and Marco added 14.  R. Volcy had a double-double with his10 rebounds.  NMU had 17 assists for the night as Ryan Reichel led the way withfour.  Suardini and R. Volcy both had three steals.

The â€Â˜Cats will face Ferris State in Big Rapids on Saturday(Feb. 5).