UNIVERSITY CENTER -- Led by a strong charge from Mike Wells Jr. where he scored a career-high 44 points, the Cardinal Men's basketball team recorded an exciting 105-94 overtime victory over the Michigan Tech Huskies on Thursday (Feb. 8) night at O'Neill Arena.
The first half was controlled mainly by the visiting Huskies, as they built a game-high lead of 18 points with the score 26-8 with 11:44 showing in the first half. They would carry a double-digit edge into the half as well, leading 47-37.
The Cardinals, however, would work their way back and grab a 61-60 advantage with 10:34 to play in the second half after James Toohey drilled a three-pointer. A D.J. Hoskins layup would follow and make the lead 63-60.
With just 36 seconds to play, it seemed as if the game was out of hand as Michigan Tech led 86-81 after a made triple.
A triple from Wells and layup from Fred John Jr., however, knotted the score right back at 86-86 as the Huskies missed the front end of a one-and-one and there were just 17 ticks left in regulation.
That's where the score would remain at the end of regulation, as the Huskies missed another free throw and a last-second three-point attempt by SVSU fell no good and the game moved to overtime.
The game would remain neck-and-neck in that first extra session, with each team scoring five more points and missing last-second shots once more to send the contest into a second overtime.
That's where the Cardinals took over, outscoring the visitors by a 14-3 margin in the final five minutes of play. Garner, Wells and James Toohey all knocked-down triples and Wells added two layups and a free throw, all while sealing a 105-94 victory over the Huskies.
Inside the Boxscore
- Wells was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" after setting his new career-high of 44. he was 15-of-24 from the floor, going 7-of-11 from deep. He added seven assists and a pair of steals as well.
- Toohey had his second career 20-plus point game for the Cards, scoring 22 on 8-of-14 shooting and 6-of-10 from deep. He added three steals, two boards and a pair of assists.
- Sebastiano Lamonato added 15 points with a team-high nine boards and three assists.
- Hoskins had 10 points, five boards, two assists and a pair of steals.
- Malik Garner had eight points and seven assists, chipping-in with three boards and a steal as well.
- The Cardinals shot a stellar 55.7% (39-70) from the floor while Tech was solid at 52.5% (31-59).
- Each team grabbed 33 boards and the Cardinals held a 36-30 edge in points in the paint.
- Both teams had 14 points of production off the bench as well.
- Kyle Monroe of Michigan Tech had 50 points for the Huskies.
Postgame Interviews
Randy Baruth
Up Next...
Saginaw Valley hosts Northern Michigan University on Saturday (Feb. 10) in another GLIAC matchup at O'Neill Arena. Tip-off time is slated for 3:00 p.m. against the Wildcats. NMU claimed the earlier meeting this season, an 86-69 decision on Dec. 2 in Marquette.
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