UNIVERSITY CENTER - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team played host to its second straight nationally-ranked opponent, taking on the #17 Lewis University Flyers on Thursday night (11/20) in O'Neill Arena. After a first half full of action with Lewis leading by 10, the Flyers pulled away in the second half and posted an 83-62 victory over the Cardinals.
The Flyers built a quick 10-1 lead to start the game but the Cardinals trimmed the deficit down to a single point at the 15:34 mark after a layup from sophomore C.J. Turnage was followed up by three-pointers from sophomore Caleb Davis and junior Mitchell Baenziger to make the score 10-9.
Lewis would go on to score the next eight points, pushing its lead out to 18-9 at the 12:56 marker of the first half. The visitors would build a 17 point advantage with 3:30 left in the period and made the score 36-19.
The Cards would use two triples each from sophomore Garrett Hall and Baenziger to help cut the Flyer lead to 10 points at 41-31 with just 37 ticks left on the clock. That score is what would show on the board heading into the halftime break, as a last-second tip attempt by Hall off a Baenziger missed three failed and the buzzer sounded.
Baenziger led the first half offensive attack for SVSU, connecting on 4-of-7 shots from beyond the arc and going 2-of-2 on free throws to tally 14 points. Hall had eight points in the first 20 minutes of play, hitting a pair of triples and another field goal. Turnage had five points, five assists and three steals in the opening frame.
Lewis held a 14-6 advantage in the points in the paint category and had 13 points off turnovers compared to eight for SVSU. The SVSU bench outscored the Lewis bench by a 14-9 margin in the first.
SVSU would cut the Flyer advantage to nine points in the second half with the score 53-44 after a Turnage layup but it was the final time the Cardinals would be within double-digits for the game.
Lewis outscored Saginaw Valley in the second half by a 42-31 count, opening up its largest lead of 22 points at the 2:07 mark with the score 81-59. The Flyers closed-out for a 21 point victory, 83-62.
The Flyers shot 59.6% in the game on 28-of-47 shooting while SVSU shot just 40.9% (18-44). Lewis held the edge on the glass (30-24) and had 27 points off turnovers compared to 15 for SV and posted a 30-16 advantage in points in the paint.
Baenziger was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for the Cardinals, as he finished with 28 points and five rebounds, adding a steal and an assist. He hit 6-of-11 attempts from downtown and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Turnage had 11 points, adding a career-high seven assists to top his previous best mark of six. He added three steals and three rebounds as well.
Hall chipped-in with eight points while Kellen Smith had six points and six assists.
Saginaw Valley (1-2) returns to action Tuesday (11/25), as the Cardinals host Great Lakes Christian College in another home matchup. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm at SVSU's O'Neill Arena.
