COLUMBUS, Ohio – In its last game before the holiday break, the Ohio Dominican men's basketball team fell to visiting Grand Valley 67-62 in Alumni Hall Tuesday evening.

The Lakers (7-0; 4-0 GLIAC) jumped to an early 4-0 lead in the opening minutes thanks to a pair of buckets by Ricardo Carbajal and Ryan Sabin. Sabin extended the lead 5-0 after hitting a free throw.

A pair of sophomore Trent Weaver's (Hilliard, Ohio) free throws cut the lead to one, 5-4, but the Lakers went on a 5-2 run to take a four point lead, 10-6 after the under-15 media timeout. The Panthers took their first lead at the 10:28 mark when junior Brock Ammons (Findlay, Ohio) connected on the three-ball.

The Lakers took their largest lead of the half at 35-25 with just under a minute to play but the Panthers chipped away in the final minutes to trail Grand Valley 35-28 at the half.

For the half, ODU (3-5; 1-3 GLIAC) shot 50 percent on an 11-of-22 shooting clip. The Panthers also hit 4-of-10 from long range (40 percent). The Lakers shot 13-of-27 from the floor (48.1 percent) and was 50 percent from 3-point range.

After the break, ODU opened with a bucket from Weaver to cut the lead back to five, 35-30. GVSU took a seven point lead at 45-38 at the first media timeout of the half, but senior Don Kellum (Chicago, Ill.) made his free throw to cut the lead back down to six with 14:04 remaining in the game.

A pair of free throws by GVSU gave the Lakers the largest lead of the game 50-39 at the 13:20 mark. A pair of sophomore Mark Minch (West Chester, Ohio) free throws cut the lead to eight, 52-44 with 10:47 left to play.

With yet another trip the charity stripe, Nelson hit both chances to cut the lead to 53-46 with 9:37 left on the clock. However, the Lakers once again took a double-digit lead after the second media timeout at 55-46.

The Panthers cut the deficit to four, 57-53 after Nelson connected from behind the arc on a Minch pass, and just two minutes later at the 5:14 mark, cut the lead to three, 59-56 on a deep ball from Ammons. The bucket was assisted by Weaver. On the other end of the floor, Sabin answered with a three-pointer to put the Lakers back up by six with 4:47 left to play.

Back to back layups from Kellum put the Panthers down two 62-60 and a turnover by the Lakers on the other end of the floor gave ODU an opportunity to tie the game. Kellum, who was fouled driving into the lane, hit a pair of clutch free throws to knot the score 62-63 with 3:33 left to play.

Down three, 65-62, with under 1:00 to play, the Panthers couldn't overcome the five point deficit and fell by the final score of 67-62.

Kellum led the Panthers with 14 points while Minch added 12 points. Weaver chipped in 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Panthers will have two weeks off before returning to the hardwood on January 2 for a trip to Michigan Tech for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

Contact: Sarah Twiggs
twiggss@ohiodominican.edu