SAULT STE. MARIE - Looking to extend its winning streak out to 11 games for the first time in 30 years, the Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball squad had a tall task at hand in a visit to Lake Superior State University on Thursday (Jan. 15) night. After trailing most of the game and all the way until the 6:23 mark of the second half, the Cardinals posted a great finish to claim an 81-76 victory over the Lakers at the Bud Cooper Gymnasium.
The meeting featured a matchup of two of the top-three teams in the GLIAC, with SVSU leading the league and the Lakers not far behind in third place. After the victory, the Cards improve to 12-2 overall and 9-0 in the GLIAC while Lake Superior falls to 12-2 and 7-2 in league play.
The score was knotted early at 5-5 after the first of four three-pointers from sophomore Garrett Hall with 18:08 to play in the first half.
From there, Lake Superior State took the lead and used an 8-0 run to hold a 10-point edge (23-13) after a three-point play with just under 11 minutes to play in the first.
Saginaw Valley responded with an eight-point run of its own to draw within a pair at 23-21 with 8:41 showing on the clock after a layup from junior Damon Bozeman.
The Lakers extended the lead from there, leading by as many as 13 points (43-30) with just over a minute left in the half before a C.J. Turnage layup made the score 43-32 with the teams heading into the halftime break.
Turnage had a game-high 13 points in the first 20 minutes of play while the cards shot 56.0% from the floor (14-25). Lake Superior had a mark of 60.7% shooting (17-28) in the first. LSSU posted a 15-9 advantage on the glass as well.
The second frame began much how the first ended, with the home team pushing out to its largest lead of 14 points with the score 50-36 with 16:28 left to play.
The Cardinals would fight back, however, using an 11-2 stretch to tie the game at 66-66 with the clock showing six minutes and 23 seconds. Of the 11 points, SV hit three triples with the tying shot coming from sophomore Caleb Davis. A Davis layup would follow to give SV a 68-66 edge.
The lead bounced back-and-forth from there and the game was tied three times until a Davis three-point play put the Cards up 73-70 with just over four minutes left in the contest.
A pair of Hall freebies made the score 79-76 with 13 seconds left to play and Lake Superior had an opportunity to tie the game.
The Lakers' Tony Harris drove the lane but missed a layup and the defensive rebound was secured by Bozeman, who was fouled. Bozeman hit one-of-two free throws to make it a two possession game at 80-76 with just four ticks left on the clock.
After a missed triple from the Lakers, junior Mitchell Baenziger grabbed the rebound, was fouled and closed things out by making the front end of two free throws to seal the 81-76 win.
SVSU shot 61.2% (30-49) from the floor for the game while Lake State finished with a 53.1% (26-49) mark. The Cardinals held a 28-23 edge on the glass and 25-15 advantage in points off turnovers.
Davis was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for Saginaw Valley for his critical play down the stretch in the victory. He finished with a season-best 13 points while adding three boards, two assists, a steal and a block.
Hall had a game-high 20 points with three rebounds and two steals while Bozeman had 14 points and a team-high six rebounds. Turnage finished with 13 points.
Saginaw Valley returns home Saturday (Jan. 17) for a matchup in O'Neill Arena against Northwood University (10-5, 6-3 GLIAC). The men play in the nightcap of a doubleheader, following the women's game that begins at 5:00 pm.