Highland Park, Mich. – Sophomore Joe Harks led a balanced offensive attack to complement a stifling Laker defense that stymied host Marygrove in the Roosevelt men's basketball team's impressive 67-35 season-opening road victory on Thursday night.

Harks turned in a double-double for the Lakers (1-0) by leading all scorers with a career-high-tying 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field and pulling down a career-best 10 rebounds. Newcomer Jeremiah Jackson added 12 points and eight boards, while junior Kyle Miklasz (13 points, seven rebounds) and sophomore Tyree York (12 points, five rebounds) rounded out Roosevelt's collection of double-digit scorers.

Roosevelt began the game strong offensively and turned to a suffocating defense in the second half to maintain control of the contest. The Lakers held the Mustangs (0-1) to 20 percent (13-for-64) shooting from the field for the game and allowed Marygrove to score just 12 points on 5-for-37 shooting after intermission.

 "We had a game plan, the kids stuck to it, the assistant coaches did a great job with preparing and with the scout team, and it was just a good team win," said head coach Joe Griffin. "The most telling stat was that they shot 20 percent from the field. We're really proud of that.

"The guys really put the clamps down. At halftime we talked about getting stingier and getting stops, and they did."  

The Lakers controlled the glass, outrebounding the hosts 52-40. Harks, Jackson and Brandyn Denson (nine rebounds) accounted for 27 of those caroms.

Griffin applauded Harks' effort on the glass.

"The biggest thing about Joey was that he grabbed 10 rebounds from the guard position," Griffin said. "There are not too many guards who are going to get 10 rebounds in one night."

Roosevelt continues its swing through Michigan with a trip to Kalamazoo to face Western Michigan in an exhibition at University Arena this Saturday at 1 p.m. Central.