FINDLAY, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team dropped another close Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) contest, falling in overtime at the University of Findlay on Thursday (Jan. 9) by a score of 80-79.
Saginaw Valley proved to be aggressive from the from the first tip. Kellen Smith missed a three-pointer on the Cardinals first posession, but a successful C.J. Turnage layup after two offensive rebounds would give the visitors a 2-0 lead. Two Damon Bozeman free throws at the 18:29 mark gave SVSU a 6-4 lead, which proved to be the last of the half.
Down 37-27 with 3:25 remaining in the opening 20 minutes, the Cardinals went on a 10-0 run to end the first half. The Oiler lead was decreased to just two points, 37-35.
Findlay started out the second half on a scoring spree, scoring 18 of the next 23 points. Dylan Kaufmann fired up the home team, scoring 8 of their 18.
A team effort by SVSU in the coming minutes got them back into the game. Five different Cardinals scored to take the first lead of the second half with just 1:51 remaining, following a Turnage layup. Another key layup by sophomore guard Sterling Johnson gave Saginaw Valley a three point lead, their largest of the game.
The Oilers Mark Frilling put away a layup with only nine seconds remaining. Saginaw Valley would come out of a timeout looking confident. Damon Bozeman drove to the basket and layed the ball up and in with one second remaining, ending regulation with a score of 71-71.
Overtime proved to be another difficult task for the Cardinals. Findlay took a 77-71 lead off of four free throws by Greg Kahlig and a three point shot by Alphonso Baity with 1:37 remaining. A Sterling Johnson three point jumper brought Saginaw Valley within three. Kahlig and Baity would combine for three more points, but five straight Bozeman points would bring SVSU within one with 18 seconds remaining. Bozeman would get a shot to win the game with one second remaining in overtime, but the jumper failed to fall.
The Oilers went on to earn an 80-79 victory.
SVSU shot 44.2% (34-77) and went 4-17 on shot beyond the arc. The Cardinals led the Oilers in rebounding (44), assists (17) and steals (9) in the contest.
C.J. Turnage led all players en-route to a career-high 26 points, while adding eight rebounds and three assists. Turnage would be named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for this efforts.
Damon Bozeman brought a quality performance to Croy Gymnasium, scoring 19 points, including going six of nine from the free-throw line
Following the defeat, Saginaw Valley falls to 5-6 on the season and 1-6 in the GLIAC, while Findlay improves to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in the conference. The Cardinals now travel to Hillsdale for a 3:00 tip on Saturday (Jan. 11).