The Basics
Score: Saginaw Valley 74, Northwood 64
Records: SVSU (17-10, 10-10 GLIAC) | NU (5-24, 3-17 GLIAC)
James E. O'Neill Arena - University Center, Mich.
UNIVERSITY CENETER, Mich.- The Saginaw Valley State men's basketball team returned to O'Neill Arena on Saturday night to complete its home portion of the season schedule with cross-town rival Northwood. The Cardinals shot 63.0% from the field in the second half and secured a 74-64 victory on Senior Night against the Timberwolves.
Saginaw Valley took the first lead of the half after C.J. Turnage scored off his own rebound for his first points of the contest. The Cardinals would grow its lead to 9-4 at the 16:25 mark after connecting on a three from Jon Marosi. Following the Marosi three ball, Northwood took control of the contest. The Timberwolves went on a 7-0 scoring run to take the 11-9 advantage on SVSU into the media timeout before rattling off another scoring run to jump ahead 20-11 on the Cardinals with 10:34 to play.
The Cardinals cut the Timberwolves to just 20-18 with a basket in the paint from Turnage. NU quickly scored on its next two possessions before Jake Daniels cut the deficit to three with his only points of the contest. SVSU would prevent a Northwood basket for almost four minutes thanks to solid defense from Malik Garner, who forced a steal and scored on a layup to cut the deficit to 26-25.
Northwood then pulled away from the Cardinals thanks to a 10-3 scoring run in the final 3:01 of regulation. A made three as time expired helped NU close the half with the 36-28 lead on SVSU.
Saginaw Valley began the second half chipping away at its eight-point deficit. The Cardinals would slowly work back into the contest with six points from Turnage, a made layup from Garner and a corner three from Garrett Hall to push within two, 40-38, of Northwood. NU responded to the SVSU comeback by scoring on its next five possessions to jump ahead 51-40 at the 13:27 mark.
The tides then turned to the Cardinals, who were able to erase the 11-point deficit with a 14-3 scoring run that gave SVSU its first lead of the second half. The Cardinals grew the lead to seven points with a basket from Devin Dixon in the post. With 5:39 left to play in the game, SVSU was able to settle NU down offensively and received timely shooting from Hall, Turnage and Dixon and hold on to the lead. The Cardinal edge hit 71-61 with 1:01 left to go after another forced steal from Garner was turned into points on the other end.
Saginaw Valley closed out the game with the 74-64 victory over Northwood and improved its record to 17-10 overall on the season.
Inside the Boxscore
- C.J. Turnage recorded another double-double, finishing the game with 26 points and 10 rebounds along with three steals. He was tabbed as the Meijer "Player of the Game".
- Garrett Hall chipped in offensively with 12 points and had two assists as well.
- Devin Dixon led the bench in scoring, chipping in with 10 points along with four rebounds and a steal.
- Malik Garner also added six points, five rebounds and two steals off the bench as well for the Cardinals.
- SVSU finished the contest shoot 53.8% from the floor and pulled in 31 rebounds.
- The Cardinals outscored Northwood, 42-32, in the paint and 22-21 in bench points.
Up Next...
The Cardinals finish the 2016-17 regular season with a road matchup against Wayne State on Thursday (Feb. 23). This GLIAC North division matchup is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. SVSU defeated the Warriors, 69-64, in its first meeting of the season back on Jan. 30. The Cards were eliminted from 2017 GLIAC Tournament contention with LSSU's victory over Wayne State on Saturday.
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