UNIVERSITY CENTER - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team claimed its 12th straight victory on Saturday (Jan. 17) night after posting an overtime victory over the visiting Northwood University Timberwolves in GLIAC play at SVSU's James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.
After trailing 47-43 at halftime, the Cards posted a 41-37 edge in the second half and used a layup from junior Damon Bozeman with 0.5 seconds on the clock to send the game into overtime. SVSU kept it rolling in the extra period, outscoring the T-Wolves 14-10 to hold on for the four-point victory, 98-94.
Saginaw Valley held the lead for most of the first half and led 27-24 after a three-point play from sophomore C.J. Turnage broke a 24-all tie with 9:21 left in the half.
The Timberwolves responded with a 10-point run to take a 34-27 edge with 5:31 showing on the clock.
The Cardinals trailed by as many as 10 points (39-29) in the opening half but would work their way back towards the end of the first frame.
After a Sterling Johnson triple and two foul shots from Wade Gelhaus cut into the lead at 45-41, the teams traded buckets and Vincent Adams made a layup for the Cardinals with 33 seconds left in the half to send the game into the half with Northwood leading, 47-43.
The Timberwolves posted a 61.3% (19-31) shooting mark in the opening 20 minutes while SVSU shot 44.4% (12-27). The Cards' bench out-scored Northwood's by a 23-14 margin and SV had a 15-4 edge in second chance points, aided by eight offensive rebounds. NU held a 24-10 advantage in the paint.
The home team opened up the second half with an 8-0 run to grab a 51-47 lead, using triples from Caleb Davis and Damon Bozeman, followed by a layup from Davis at the 17:59 marker.
Saginaw Valley would hold its largest lead of the night with 13:41 left to play after a triple from Mitchell Baenziger made the score 62-55.
Northwood would tie the game at 68-68 and 72-72 and grab the lead once more with the score 74-72 after six-straight points and 5:22 showing on the game clock.
The lead would bounce back-and-forth a bit from there and a three-point play from Bozeman with 1:47 left knotted the game at 80-80.
The Timberwolves scored the next four points and held an 84-80 advantage with just under a minute remaining.
A Northwood foul with 51 seconds left would send Garrett Hall to the line and he would drain both foul shots to cut the deficit to 84-82.
NU worked the clock down after using the entire shot clock and a missed jumper would give the ball back to SVSU after Kellen Smith secured the defensive rebound.
The Cardinals called a timeout with nine seconds left and drew up a play that resulted in Bozeman driving the lane and making good on a layup with 0.5 seconds left to make the score 84-84.
After the visitors called a timeout to plan a last-second down court heave, their inbounds pass bounced off a speaker hanging from the rafters and bounced out-of-bounds.
That gave SV the ball back under their own basket with the same 0.5 ticks left showing on the clock.
A last-second effort for the Cards fell short and the game headed into overtime with the score knotted at 84-84.
SVSU opened the extra frame with a 6-0 run to make the score 90-84, with the run being capped-off by a Bozeman freebie.
That would prove to be enough separation for the rest of the way, as the Cardinals knocked-down enough free throws to secure a 98-94 victory.
The 12th win in a row matches the streak posted by the 1984-85 Cardinals.
The 98 points is a season-high for the men and its the most the team has scored since the 2011-12 season when it suffered a 106-99 loss in three overtimes to Northwood.
Bozeman had a great game for the Cards, earning Meijer "Player of the Game" plaudits after scoring a team and season-high 23 points. He added five rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Hall added 16 points while Davis netted 12 points, five boards and two assists. Turnage turned-in his fourth double-double of the season, recording 10 points and a team-best 10 rebounds.
Baenziger was huge off the bench for the Cards as well. The junior knocked-down three triples and finished with 16 points and three rebounds.
SVSU claimed the edge on the glass 42-34 and in bench points (29-17) despite being out-scored in the paint by a 54-46 margin. The game featured 12 ties and 14 lead changes.
The Cardinals (13-2, 10-0 GLIAC) will continue to ride their 12-game winning streak with a pair of home games next week against Northern Michigan Thursday (Jan. 22) and Michigan Tech on Saturday (Jan. 24).
