UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team stayed unbeaten for the young 2013-14 season after it posted an 82-72 home victory over the Spring Arbor University Cougars.

The Cardinals, trailing by as much as eight points with the score 66-58 with 9:28 remaining in the game, came back and tied the contest at 66-66 with 7:34 left to play.  SVSU took the lead from there after a three pointer by sophomore guard Damon Bozeman and never looked back, eventually closing-out for the 10 point victory.

The game started with a 7-0 run in the Cardinals' favor after a triple from junior guard Lindsey Johnson and a pair of layups from senior guard Michael Fugate.

Spring Arbor drew to within one point with the score 19-18 at the 8:03 mark.  From there, the half would remain highly competitive and SVSU would take a 43-40 lead into the halftime break.

The Cougars opened the second half with five consecutive points to grab a 45-43 lead.  The Cards tied the score at 45-45 after a pair of Bozeman free throws, but SAU would lead from there all the way until the 7:34 marker in the second, when a Fugate layup knotted the score at 66-66.  That was when Bozeman hit a triple and gave Saginaw Valley the lead for good.

Bozeman was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" after scoring a game-high 28 points and adding a game-high seven rebounds.  Of his 28 points, 23 of them came in the final 20 minutes of the game.

Johnson added 18 points for SVSU, adding four assists and three rebounds in a game-high 35 minutes of action.  He was 5-of-8 from beyond the arc.

Fugate netted 12 points, four assists, four rebounds and two steals against the Cougars.

Freshman Wade Gelhaus also reached double-figures in scoring, adding 10 points in the victory while tying with a game-high seven boards in 18 minutes off the bench.

Sophomore guard Kellen Smith had a game-best 10 assists.

SVSU out-rebounded the Cougars by a margin of 39-34.   

The Cardinals improve to 3-0 overall on the season after the win while the Cougars fall to 4-5 overall.  SVSU returns to action on Tuesday (Nov. 26), as it hosts Grace Bible College at 7:00 pm in O'Neill Arena.