HANCOCK — A rangy Mid Michigan College team led from start to finish in posting a 79-73 men’s basketball win over Finlandia University Friday.

The Lakers jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the opening four minutes of play at Paavo Nurmi Gymnasium.

Lions coach Mike O’Donnell said his team got off to a ragged start in the exhibition game.

“I think it was a learning experience for us as a team,” O’Donnell said afterward. “We can’t allow teams to get out to big leads early in the game.”

The downstate team grabbed a 42-28 advantage at the intermission, using a balanced scoring attack.

“We used pressure in the second half and that got us back in the game,” O’Donnell said. “Maybe it’s something we have to look at it using earlier.”

Junior forward Brandon Robinette led the second half rally by scoring 13 of his game-high 21 points.

At one point late in the game, the Lions narrowed the lead to two points.

But the Lakers were able to connect on some key throws down the stretch to move away for good.

Robinette grabbed 11 rebounds to go with his 21 points.

Myles Ellington tossed in 18 points to take runner-up honors for the FU scoring cause. Tristan Johnson added 11 points.

Gavin Ostrander was tops for the Lakers with 11 points.

Finlandia travels to Lakeland College on Nov. 15 for its season opener.