SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. â€Â“ The Northern Michigan University menâ€Â™s basketball team loss their second game in a row on Saturday afternoonand third in the last four with a 64-61 set back at Lake Superior State University.  With the loss the â€Â˜Cats are now 11-13 overall and 6-9 in the GLIAC.  TheLakers improve to 8-17 and 4-12 respectively. 

Clinging onto an 11-point lead at the half (37-26) theLakers started to chip away at the lead in the second half.  The Lakers quicklyhad the lead down to single-digits with a 9-2 run in the first four plusminutes of the half (39-37).  NMU would still hold the lead and extended it tosix points when Jake Suardini made a basket then two free throws over atwo-minute stretch at 11:58 (50-44).

Lake State tied the game at 53-all at 7:50 and would holdthe lead until Marco Volcy tied the game at 59 with 3:25 on the clock.  TheLakers made two baskets to take the 63-59 lead with 32 seconds left in thegame.  Nick Buck made a basket to get the â€Â˜Cats within two at 63-61 with 16ticks left in the game.  Lake State sank one of their two free throws for thefinal margin. 

Two â€Â˜Cats ended the game in the scoring column withdouble-digits as Ricky Volcy led the way with a game-high 29 points and 10rebounds for his second double-double game in a row.  Brother, Marco, had 12points and seven rebounds. 

NMU was 24-55 from the floor for the 40 minutes (43.6percent) from the three-point line the â€Â˜Cats were 1-16 for 6.3 percent.  Fromthe free throw line, NMU was 12-17 for 70.6 percent.  The â€Â˜Cats did win therebounding tussle with a 36-32 slate.  NMU only had five assists for the gameas the Lakers dished the rock 11 times.

The â€Â˜Cats will continue on their road trip with the make-upgame against Wayne State tomorrow night (Feb. 21) in the Motor City.  Later in the week the â€Â˜Cats host Ferris State (Feb. 24) and Grand Valley (Feb. 26) forthe final regular season games on the schedule.