MARQUETTE - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team, ranked #20 in this week's installment of the NABC Top-25 Poll, traveled to play Northern Michigan on Thursday (Feb. 12) in a GLIAC North Division matchup. Facing a team that had claimed victory in three of its past four games, the Cardinals were facing a much different team than the one it defeated by a score of 65-43 on January 22nd at SVSU.
Saginaw Valley held a five-point advantage (40-35) after the first half of play and posted another five-point edge in the second half, closing-out for a 10-point victory over the Wildcats, 82-72.
The victory moves the Cardinals to 20-4 overall on the season and 16-2 in the GLIAC. The 'Cats fall to 9-15 and 7-11 in league play. The 16 conference victories are the most in program history, besting the 15 recorded by the 1984-85 GLIAC Championship squad. The win also secures a home GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal contest, which will take place on Wednesday, March 4th.
SVSU got off to a great start in the contest, stroking it from downtown and knocking-down its first six three-point attempts in building a 20-12 lead at the 13:57 mark. Sophomore Caleb Davis had the first two triples and junior Damon Bozeman hit the last four.
After the Wildcats cut the deficit to 27-24 with 6:18 to play, the Cards rattled-off an 11-2 run to lead by a score of 38-26 with 1:31 showing on the clock for the first half.
Northern would end the half on a 9-2 run, adding a three at the buzzer to make the score 40-35 as the teams headed into the locker room for the break.
Bozeman had a great opening half, notching 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Davis added 10 first half points. Junior Kellen Smith had five rebounds, four assists and two blocks in the first frame.
The Wildcats worked their way back and took a brief 43-42 lead after a tip-in at the 17:22 marker.
Another Bozeman triple, followed by seven more Cardinal points, gave the visitors a 52-43 advantage after a Devin Dixon layup capped-off the 9-0 run with 14:49 to play.
NMU fought back, however, working to cut the Cardinal lead down to four points at 54-50 at the 12:26 marker.
SVSU responded once more to grab its largest lead of the game with 6:58 showing on the clock as sophomore Garrett Hall made a layup to make the score 65-52.
A last-ditch comeback effort from the Wildcats was shut down by the Cardinals. The visitors, who are ranked last in the GLIAC in free throw shooting, came through in the clutch once more down the stretch from the charity stripe. SVSU made good on six of its last seven foul shots, allowing the Cardinals to close-out for the 10-point victory, 82-72.
The Cardinals shot 48.3% (29-60) from the floor, including hitting on half of their shots from three (12-24). SV out-scored the Wildcats 15-11 in bench points and had 21 assists on 29 of their made field goals. The Cards also did a great job taking care of the ball, committing just seven turnovers.
Bozeman was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" after finishing with a game and season-high 23 points and four rebounds.
Davis had 18 points, one shy of his career-high in a Cardinal uniform. He added two rebounds, two assists and two steals as well. Hall added 14 points, four boards and two assists while sophomore C.J. Turnage had 12 points, six assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Smith had a solid night despite not scoring. He notched a season-high nine boards, career-best nine assists and also matched a career-high with two blocks.
The 82 points matched a season-high for the Cardinals for GLIAC regulation games. SVSU claimed a 98-94 overtime win over Northwood earlier this season.
Saginaw Valley returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 14) afternoon against the Michigan Tech University Huskies (16-6, 13-5 GLIAC) in Houghton riding a four game winning streak. SVSU lost the teams' earlier matchup this season, dropping a 66-58 decision to the Huskies on January 24th in SVSU's O'Neill Arena.