SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Sophomore Joe Graessle poured in 38 points as the Tiffin University men's basketball team (9-12, 4-10 GLIAC) suffered a tough 76-70 loss to Lake Superior State (10-9, 5-7 GLIAC), Saturday afternoon at Cooper Gym.
For the first ten minutes, Lake Superior State was in control. The Lakers held a 15-7 lead with 10 minutes left. Tiffin hit the fast lane scoring seven straight points. Senior Karl Finley drove the lane and scored.
That tied the contest at 15-15 at the 6:50 mark. The lead would go back and forth the remainder of the half. Graessle dropped in a triple from the boonies with 44 seconds left to make it 35-32, Dragons.
In the second half, Alex Williams hit a bucket to put LSSU up 36-35. Although TU would keep the game close, they were never able to take the lead after that. Graessle hit a 3-pointer to make it a three point game, 70-67. That was as close as Tiffin could get.
For Tiffin, Graessle was 11-of-18 from the floor, 7-of-10 from behind the arc and 9-of-9 from the line. Senior Travis Spahr had his second straight double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while Finley dropped in 10.
For Lake Superior State, Williams had 27 points, Derek Billing had 16 points and eight assists while Kyle Hunt had 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Tiffin returns home, Wednesday, February 1, when they host Notre Dame College. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Live Stats will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/tiffin/
-TIFFIN UNIVERSITY-
