SAULT STE. MARIE - The SVSU men's basketball team traveled to play the Lake Superior State University Lakers on Saturday (Mar. 7) in the 2015 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament Semifinals.  In what was the Cardinals' first semifinals appearance since the 1997 tournament, the fourth-seeded SVSU team dropped a 70-56 decision to the #1 Lakers.

SVSU opened the scoring in the contest, taking a lead when C.J. Turnage made a layup at the 18:56 mark.  After a brief Lakers lead, Caleb Davis drilled a three-pointer at the 15:54 marker to give the visitors a two-point advantage, 5-3.

Lake Superior grabbed the edge right back from there and opened up a 15-point advantage with 6:29 to play in the first half and the score 26-11.

The Cardinals worked their way back and closed the first half with a Mitchell Baenziger triple to cut the deficit to 35-30 heading into the halftime break.

Garrett Hall had a huge first half for SV, pouring-in 16 points and adding four rebounds to the effort.  

The Lakers held the first half edge on the glass (20-16) and posted a 15-6 advantage in points in the paint.

A Damon Bozeman layup fresh into the second half made the score 35-32 at the 19:43 marker to begin the scoring for the Cardinals.

After LSSU worked the lead back out to double-digits (44-34) with 15:11 to play, SVSU used a Turnage layup to get within seven points (49-42) with 10:26 remaining in the contest.

That's as close as SV would get the rest of the way, however, as Lake State increased its lead to 17 points and closed-out for the 14-point victory, 70-56, as the clock struck zeros.

Hall led the way for the Cardinals in the game, posting game-highs of 18 points and eight rebounds.  He was selected as the Meijer "Player of the Game" for his efforts.

Bozeman chipped-in with 10 points and five boards while Turnage had eight points and six rebounds.

Saginaw Valley's record stands at 21-9 overall for the season, as the Cardinals await their fate for selection into the 2015 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Tournament.  The selection show will take place late Sunday evening.  Stay tuned to www.svsucardinals.com for all information regarding the selections.