UNIVERSITY CENTER - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team hosted the Michigan Tech University Huskies on Saturday (Jan. 24) afternoon in a matchup of two of the top teams in the GLIAC North Division. Carrying a 13-game win streak, the most since the 1979-80 season, the Cardinals couldn't keep things rolling and would fall by a score of 66-58 to the Huskies.
SVSU got on the board first, as junior Damon Bozeman made a layup just under a minute into the game to take the 2-0 advantage.
Tech grabbed the lead from there and built a pair of seven-point advantages, the latter coming with 12:01 left in the half and the score at 16-9.
The Cardinals responded with a huge 16-2 run, claiming a seven-point advantage of their own after a triple from sophomore Wade Gelhaus made the score 25-18 with 8:30 showing on the clock.
The Huskies nailed three shots from beyond the arc before the Cards scored again and took a 27-25 edge with 6:20 to play in the frame.
The visitors from Houghton, Michigan would carry a five-point lead into the half, up 31-26.
Tech shot 45.8% (11-24) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play while SV hit on just 33.3% (10-30) of its attempts. The Cardinals had just a pair of turnovers in the first half and scored 10 points off of seven Husky mis-haps.
Gelhaus had seven first half points and four boards while sophomore Caleb Davis added six points. Bozeman netted five points, three steals and two assists in the opening frame.
Michigan Tech maintained a lead and built it to its widest margin of the game at the 12:18 marker, leading by 11 points with the score 46-35.
The Cards cut the lead down to four points with 7:55 showing on the clock after a layup from junior Mitchell Baenziger made the score 48-44.
That's as close as SVSU would draw to within the rest of the way, as Tech built its lead back out to double-digits a pair of times and used free throws down the stretch to close-out for the victory, 66-58.
The Cards struggled shooting in the contest, shooting just 35.1% (20-57), their lowest output since the second game of the season against Bellarmine (34.4%). The Huskies also held SV to its lowest scoring total of the season (58).
Bozeman was selected as the Meijer "Player of the Game" after finishing with 13 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists in 31 minutes of action.
Davis and sophomore Garrett Hall each scored 10 points, with Davis adding three boards. Gelhaus netted eight points and five rebounds in 23 minutes of reserve action.
The Cards (14-3, 11-1 GLIAC) have a short break until they return to their home floor. They host Grace Bible College on Monday (Jan. 26) in a 7:00 pm non-conference matchup at O'Neill Arena. SVSU remains in first place in the GLIAC standings despite the loss, still tied with Ferris State University. The Bulldogs (15-3, 11-1 GLIAC) dropped a 69-67 contest to Lake Superior State on Saturday.
