Cardinals use strong second half to defeat Saints, 77-73

Cardinals use strong second half to defeat Saints, 77-73

UNIVERSITY CENTER -- The Cardinal Men's Basketball team hosted Aquinas College in another home matchup, taking on the Saints on Tuesday (Nov. 26) night at O'Neill Arena. After Aquinas held a 44-34 halftime lead, Saginaw Valley bounced-back for a solid second half and would come out on top in the end by a final score of 77-73. 

The Saints ran out to a 12-3 lead early on in the first half and used a 51.6% shooting percentage to lead by a 44-34 count at the break. Aquinas led by a game-high 12 points with the score at 41-29 with 1:41 remaining in the first half. It got 10 first half points from Justin Lary while Saginaw Valley hit on 45.2% of its tries in the opening 20 minutes, led by Malik Ellison's 13 points. 

SVSU worked its way back in the second half, taking its first lead of the game at the 15:19 marker of the second half when James Toohey hit on all three free throw tries to give the Cards a 50-48 edge. Saginaw Valley worked the lead out to its largest of the night with 8:02 to play when Nick Thran made a layup to put the home team up by a 64-58 count. 

Aquinas kept the game very close throughout and knotted the score at 69-69 with just 4:04 to go.

The Cardinals were able to hold on, however, as Fred John Jr. made a pair of freebies with two seconds left to put the game out of reach at 77-73 and that would prove to be the final.  

Inside the Boxscore

  • Ellison was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for the Cardinals, racking-up a game-high 23 points and hitting 5-of-9 shots from downtown. He added seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. 
  • Myles Belyeu added 14 points with five rebounds and three steals.
  • Toohey had nine points for SVSU. 
  • John had eight points and six boards while Sebastiano Lamonato added eight points and Nick Thran had seven.

Postgame Interview - Tommy Twardecki

Up Next...

Saginaw Valley hosts the University of Wisconsin-Stout on Sunday (Dec. 1) afternoon. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. at O'Neill Arena.

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