UNIVERSITY CENTER – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team came up short against #16 Bellarmine University on Saturday (11/15) night in the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge at SVSU's O'Neill Arena. The Cardinals had three players in double figures and led by two at the half but fell by a final score of 81-71 to the nationally-ranked Knights.
Saginaw Valley falls to 1-1 on the year while Bellarmine improves to 2-0 with the victory.
SVSU and Bellarmine started the game off cold on offense as the score was tied 4-4 at the 14:13 mark of the first half. The Cardinals missed their first eight three point attempts before sophomore Garrett Hall nailed a triple to put Saginaw Valley up 12-8 with 11:25 remaining in the first half.
SV went up by six points following a C.J. Turnage dunk after a steal at midcourt. The dunk capped a 7-0 run and put the Cards up 14-8 nine minutes into the contest.
Bellarmine answered the run with an 8-0 run themselves to go up 16-14 at the 8:31 marker.
Hall knocked down his second triple of the game and junior Mitchell Baenziger dialed in from long distance to put the Cardinals back up by four, 20-16 with 6:12 remaining in the first half. A pair of Damon Bozeman free throws gave SVSU another six point lead as the Cards went up 22-16 with under six minutes to play in the first.
The Knights regained the lead at 25-24 with 2:40 to play but a Bozeman three pointer coming out of a timeout put the Cards back up 27-25 only 14 seconds later.
A three pointer by junior point guard Kellen Smith and a pair of Wade Gelhaus freebies gave the Cards a 32-28 lead with 33 seconds remaining in the first half.
The Knights would cash in at the charity stripe to close the gap to 32-30 with 16 seconds to play in the opening half. The teams headed into the halftime break with Saginaw Valley leading by two, 32-30.
Turnage led SVSU with 10 points in the opening frame on 5-for-6 shooting while Bozeman chipped in with eight points and Hall had six points on two three point baskets.
Saginaw's first possession of the second half resulted in Hall's third triple of the game to extend the lead to five, 35-30. Sophomore Caleb Davis drained a pair of free throws to give the Cards a 37-31 lead at the 18:29 mark, which matched the largest lead of the game for SVSU.
A Bellarmine three point basket and layup on back-to-back possessions gave the Knights their first lead of the second half, 42-41 with 15:19 remaining in the second frame.
Smith made good on one of his two free throw attempts to tie the game at 42-42 but a quick 5-0 run by the Knights gave them another lead at the 12:49 marker. That was a lead that the Knights would not give up again the rest of the contest.
Bellarmine opened up their largest lead of the game at 13 points after two free throws, but the Cards would not quit. A pair of Davis three point baskets got SV back to within single digits, 72-63 with a little over three minutes left in the game.
Bozeman's fifth triple of the night would get SVSU back to within five points at 76-71 with 38 seconds left but the Knights would net five of their last six free throw attempts to seal the game, and preserve a 81-71 victory.
SVSU was led by Damon Bozeman who finished with a team-high 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting. Bozeman knocked down five triples in the game and was named the Meijer "Player of the Game."
Sophomores C.J. Turnage and Garrett Hall finished with double-figures in the contest as well for the Cardinals. Turnage had 15 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Hall chipped in with 12 points and four rebounds. Point guard Kellen Smith had a game-high eight assists to go along with his six points.
SV made 13 triples to Bellarmine's four on the night. The Knights out-scored the Cards at the charity stripe by a 27 to 14 margin.
Saginaw Valley returns to action against another nationally ranked team in Lewis on Thursday night (11/20) at SVSU's O'Neill Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm against the #11 Flyers. Lewis is 2-0 this season after posting victories over Northern Michigan (78-57) and Malone (91-62) this weekend in the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge.