ALLENDALE - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team hit the road for a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North Division matchup against the Grand Valley State University Lakers on Thursday (Jan. 29) night. In a physical, hard-fought game, the Cardinals came out on top by a final score of 73-68 in the team's first victory over GVSU in the past seven tries.
The Lakers grabbed a lead early in the first half and built it up to 10 points at the 15:31 mark with the score 15-5.
SVSU would use back-to-back buckets by redshirt freshman Devin Dixon and sophomore Garrett Hall to cut the deficit to five points at 19-14 at the 10:39 marker.
Trailing 25-20, the Cardinals scored the next nine points to grab the 29-25 edge with just a minute left in the half. The run was capped-off by a layup from junior Sterling Johnson.
After GVSU made good on a free throw, a Caleb Davis freebie made the score 30-26 with 25 seconds left in the opening frame. A turnover by the Lakers gave the ball back to the Cards with 10 seconds left on the clock. Going for the last shot, an inbound play freed-up Hall for a deep three-pointer. He found the bottom of the net and extended the SVSU lead to 33-26 as the clock ran out and the teams headed into the halftime break.
Davis had 10 first half points with three rebounds while Hall had seven points. Sophomore C.J. Turnage added six points and five boards.
The Cardinals maintained that lead and worked it out to double-digits with 14:26 to play after a Turnage jumper made the score 45-35.
A pair of Dixon freebies gave the visitors their largest lead of the game at 12 points (48-36) at the 12:38 marker.
After trailing by 11 points (53-42), the Lakers rattled-off nine straight points to draw to within a pair at 53-51 with 7:10 left in the game.
SVSU used eight straight points to take the lead back out to double-digits, as junior Mitchell Baenziger hit a free throw to make the score 66-56 with just 1:29 showing on the clock.
Grand Valley would cut into that lead a bit, but the Cardinals shot just good enough from the charity stripe down the stretch and closed-out for a five-point victory, 73-68.
SV had 28 points off of 20 Laker turnovers and finished with a narrow 36-35 edge on the glass.
Davis had a career-high 19 points in the victory, earning him Meijer "Player of the Game" honors. He added seven rebounds, two assists and a steal in the game.
Hall had 18 points and four rebounds while Turnage netted 12 points, seven rebounds and tied a career-high with three blocks.
Saginaw Valley (16-3, 12-1 GLIAC) returns to the floor with a huge matchup on Saturday (Jan. 31) against Ferris State University (16-3, 12-1 GLIAC). The two teams are tied atop the league standings, with the Bulldogs escaping in overtime Thursday against Hillsdale College. Tip-off is set for 3:00 pm in SVSU's James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.