MIDLAND -- In what was a tough, low-scoring contest on the road at Northwood, the Cardinal Men's Basketball team held on for a 52-47 overtime victory over the Timberwolves. It gives the Cardinals their second straight win in the GLIAC and snapped a three-game win streak for NU in the series.
The first half was a low-scoring affair, with Saginaw Valley leading by a 24-21 score heading into the halftime break. SVSU's largest lead of the half came with 7:32 showing on the clock when Fred John Jr. converted on a three-point play, putting the score at 16-10. John led all scorers in the first half with eight points, hitting on both field goal tries and going 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Myles Belyeu and Sebastiano Lamonato each added six first half points, with Belyeu grabbing a game-best seven rebounds to that point.
Saginaw Valley led by seven points at 32-25 with 14:00 remaining after a pair of Lamonato freebies but Northwood erased that deficit and tied the game at 34-34 with 11:30 showing on the clock. The Cards built up an eight point lead with the score 43-35 after a jumper from Darnell Hoskins Jr. but the T-Wolves got the next eight to knot the score at 43-43 after three and a half minutes of neither team scoring. That score held true until time expired, sending the contest to overtime deadlocked at 43-43.
A Lamonato free throw and Hoskins three-pointer gave the Cards a 47-43 lead to begin the extra session. Then, after a Northwood bucket, Belyeu nailed a pair of free throws to put the score at 49-45 in SVSU's favor.
The T-Wolves trimmed the deficit to 49-47 with 53 seconds to go but Hoskins came through again and connected on a runner that put the score at 51-47.
A missed Northwood shot and foul put Malik Ellison on the line for a pair. He made the second, helping put the game out of reach at 52-47 with just 11 seconds to go. That's what the final count would be and Saginaw Valley moved to 6-3 overall on the season and 2-1 in the GLIAC.
Inside the Boxscore
- Lamonato had a big game down low, scoring a season and game-high 15 points for the Cardinals. He added eight rebounds and two blocks to earn Meijer "Player of the Game" honors.
- Belyeu added a dozen points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the victory.
- John reached double-figures in scoring as well, going for 10 points with two rebounds and two assists.
- SVSU shot 41.9% from the floor while Northwood was 30.0% for the game. The Timberwolves hit on 4-of-25 tries from Deep and Saginaw Valley just 2-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc.
Up Next...
Saginaw Valley is right back at it, as the Cardinals host Grace Christian on Monday (Dec. 16) night at O'Neill Arena. Tip-off will be at 7:00 p.m. versus the Tigers. The teams met earlier this season, with Saginaw Valley coming away with an 88-54 home victory on Nov. 15.
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