UNIVERSITY CENTER – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team defeated the Lake Erie College Storm on Tuesday (Dec. 16) night by a final score of 72-63 at O'Neill Arena in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) matchup. The victory improves the Cardinals to 4-0 in conference play, which is the first time SVSU has started 4-0 in the GLIAC since the 1984-85 season and the first time in the program's NCAA Division II era.
The Storm jumped out to an early 5-4 lead at the 17:05 mark after a made three-pointer, but that was the last time the visitors would have the lead in the contest. Junior Kellen Smith put the Cards up for good with a layup to make the score 6-5 on SVSU's next offensive possession.
The Cardinals built the lead out to seven points (16-9) following a layup by sophomore Garrett Hall with 11:35 remaining in the opening half. Lake Erie cut the deficit down to 16-13, but Mitchell Baenziger answered for the Cards. The junior knocked down a triple and layup in consecutive possessions to push the lead back out to 21-13 for the home team with 8:39 showing on the clock.
SVSU responded to a Lake Erie 7-0 run by hitting a pair of triples on back-to-back trips down the court. Sophomore Caleb Davis hit the first three and Baenziger made his second shot from behind the arc in the opening half to put SV up by double-digits at 31-21 with less than four minutes showing in the first frame.
A Turnage slam put the Cards up 36-26 with 1:21 left in the half and a put-back layup by Davis put SVSU up by 12 points at 38-26 with less than a minute remaining. That is what the score would end up as the teams headed into the halftime break.
Baenziger led the way in the first half with eight points off the bench on 3-of-6 shooting, including two three-pointers. Turnage finished the first 20 minutes with six points on 3-of-5 shooting with four rebounds and three assists. Davis and Hall each chipped-in with five points.
The Cardinals shot 53.6% (15-for-28) from the field compared to 32.3% (10-for-31) for the Storm. SV held an advantage in rebounds (23-13), points in the paint (24-12), second chance points (10-8) and bench points (16-12) in the opening half.
The second half started with junior Damon Bozeman netting a triple and Hall making a layup to give the home team its largest lead of the game at 17 points (43-26) with only 41 seconds coming off the clock. LEC responded by scoring the next seven points to cut the SV lead down to 10 points at the 17:56 marker.
Bozeman answered by scoring the next five points for the Cards, which included his second triple of the second half in the first three minutes to extend the Cardinal lead to 48-33 with about 17 minutes remaining in the second.
SVSU got a two-point jump shot by Baenziger at the 15:46 marker, but did not make another field goal for the next 5:10 on the game clock when Baenziger made good on a layup to make the score 53-42 in the Cards' favor.
LEC cut into the SV lead and got it as close as four points with the score 58-54 at the 5:43 mark of the second frame. The Cardinals answered by scoring the next five points, four of which came from Turnage to make the score 63-54 with just over four minutes remaining.
The teams traded field goals in the final three minutes, with Bozeman scoring seven of the final nine points for the Cardinals. The Storm added a three-point basket to close out the scoring and make the final score 72-63 in SVSU's favor.
Bozeman scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half and earned his second consecutive Meijer "Player of the Game" honor. The junior shot 8-of-15 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc. He pulled in a season-high eight rebounds in the contest as well.
Turnage recorded his third double-double of the season as he finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and grabbed 10 boards. The sophomore had five assists as well. Baenziger scored in double-figures for the Cards as he netted 12 points, knocking down a pair of triples.
SVSU finished 28-for-55 (50.9%) from the floor, as the Storm shot 24-for-59 (40.7%) in the game. SV out-rebounded Lake Erie by a 42-29 margin. The Cardinals out-scored the Storm in the paint (38-26) and on the bench (21-17).
Saginaw Valley (6-2, 4-0 GLIAC) returns to the court on Sunday (Dec. 21) for a non-conference matchup with the Marygrove College Mustangs. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 pm at O'Neill Arena. SVSU is 3-0 all-time against Marygrove and last faced the Mustangs on November 11, 2012. The Cards were victorious in the contest, 82-43.