The University of Findlay men's basketball team, ranked first in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll, escaped Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan with a 76-72 win over Lake Superior State University on Thursday, January 29. The victory gives the Oilers a 17-0 record on the season with a13-0 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

The Lakers who had won 10-of-11 games heading into their contest with the Oilers, jumped out to a 13 point lead in the first period before capturing a 35-30 advantage at the break.

In the second half, the Oilers battled back to tie it at 41-41 with 14:05 left when senior forward and All-American Josh Bostic hit a jumper. The lead was short lived however as the Lakers Tim VanOudeusden drilled a triple to make the score 44-41.

Senior guard Aaron Laflin answered the Lake Superior State three pointer with one of his own and then split a pair of free throws to give Findlay a 45-44 lead with 12:55 left in the game.

Both teams then traded leads back and forth until Bostic got hot and canned a few three's to give the Oilers a 67-64 advantage with 2:31 remaining.

After a few baskets by both teams, sophomore guard Nathan Hyde made a short jumper to give Findlay a 71-67 lead with only 1:18 showing on the clock.

Up by four, the Oilers lead was cut to two by a couple of free throws by Ryan Kuhl but Hyde went to the line and made a pair of free throws to push the lead back to four at 73-69 with a mere 24 seconds remaining in the contest.

A turnover and foul by the Lakers sent Hyde back to the line where he made 1-of-2 before Scott Perkins connected on a deep triple to make the score 74-72 with only two seconds left.

The Lakers, needing to get the ball back, fouled Hyde again and he hit both of his attempts from the charity stripe before senior forward Morgan Lewis stole the Lake Superior State inbounds pass to seal the deal.

Bostic led the way with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go along with six boards and four assists.

His big offensive performance enabled him to move into a tie for 18th place all-time in scoring at UF with George Keller (1957-60). Both players are sitting at 1,328 career points.

Hyde finished the game with 14 points and four assists while senior center Lee Roberts also reached double figures with 11 points in the win.

VanOudheusden led the Lakers with 26 points while Kuhl added 22 of his own on 10-of-12 shooting from the floor.

As a team, the Oilers hit 47.2 percent (25-of-53) of their field goal attempts and connected on 19-of-21 (90.5%) of their shots from the free throw line.

Lake Superior State meanwhile made 56 percent (28-of-50) of their shots from the field and drilled 7-of-16 (43.8%) of their three point tries.

Findlay will be back in action again on Saturday, January 31 when they face Saginaw Valley State University at 3:00 p.m. in University Center, Michigan.