UNIVERSITY CENTER - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team ran its longest win streak in 30 years out to nine consecutive games after an 82-75 home victory over the University of Findlay Oilers in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) matchup on Thursday night (Jan. 8).
The victory moves the Cardinals to 10-2 overall and a perfect 7-0 in the GLIAC while the Oilers slide to 5-6 and 2-5 in league play. It was the second-ever victory for SVSU over Findlay in 21 tries, with the last Cardinal victory coming on December 3, 2009.
After Saginaw Valley took a brief 1-0 lead to start the game, Findlay scored the next six to grab a 6-1 advantage at the 18:06 mark. The five point lead would eventually prove to be the largest lead of the night for the Oilers.
SVSU re-gained the lead at 7-6 after a 6-0 run of its own, capped-off by a layup from sophomore Wade Gelhaus coming at the 15:35 marker.
A layup from junior Kellen Smith made it a 10 point lead (21-11) for the Cards with 10:23 showing on the clock but an 8-0 run from the visitors cut the lead down to a pair at 21-19.
Junior Damon Bozeman made good on a jumper with 3:31 left in the opening half to open up an 11 point edge with the score 30-19.
The Oilers would work it in closer from there, hitting on a layup with 53 ticks left on the clock to draw within six points at 35-29 as both squads headed into the halftime break.
Sophomore C.J. Turnage had highs of nine points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play while Smith added seven points to the offensive effort.
The Cardinals owned a 26-10 advantage in the paint for the first half while the rebounds were an even 16-16 for both teams.
Saginaw Valley would hold a steady lead of at least three points until using an 8-0 run that was finished by a layup from junior Sterling Johnson at the 12:07 marker to hold a 12 point advantage at 56-44.
A minute later a Bozeman layup would give the Cards their largest margin of the night of 14 points (60-46) with 11:07 remaining.
Findlay would pull to within a pair after a 7-0 run to make the score 64-62 with just 3:42 left to play, but SVSU answered with eight consecutive points to push the lead back out to double-digits, leading 72-62 at the 1:53 mark.
The Oilers would try to mount a comeback and knocked down some triples down the stretch, but they were forced to foul and the Cardinals were able to close-out for the seven point victory, 82-75.
Smith was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" after posting a career-high 15 points in the victory. He added six assists, a block, steal and two rebounds in the effort.
Two other players posted 15 points as well, with Turnage netting 15 points and adding six boards, three assists and a steal and sophomore Garrett Hall also added 15 points, three rebounds and four steals.
Bozeman turned in a solid effort as well, notching 11 points with five boards, three assists and a steal. Gelhaus did some work inside as well, grabbing a game-high seven rebounds to go along with his six points, one steal and one block.
SVSU finished with a 46-26 advantage in points in the paint and its bench outscored Findlay's by a slim 21-18 margin. The Cards shot 52.7% (29-55) from the floor compared to the Oilers' 43.5% (27-62).
Saginaw Valley will look to run its win streak to double-digits as the Cardinals host Wayne State (2-8, 2-5 GLIAC) University on Saturday night (Jan. 10) in another GLIAC matchup. Tip-off is set for approximately 7:00 pm, coming after the Lady Cardinals' game which begins at 5:00 pm.
