UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball suffered a 79-72 defeat at the hands of Ferris State on Thursday night inside O'Neill Arena. The Cardinals (9-9, 4-4 GLIAC) climbed back into the game from a double-digit lead to close the gap in a hard-fought loss to the Bulldogs, who are now 14-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference.
Chansey Willis Jr. tallied a career-high 18 points to lead SVSU in scoring. Willis added five assists to his stat line on the evening. Freddie McIntosh finished with 17 points, two assists, and two steals in the losing effort. Kevonne Taylor netted a season-high 16 points while snagging a team-leading eight rebounds. Tre Garrett was the fourth Cardinal to reach double-digit points with 12. He added six rebounds and three assists to his totals.
Ferris State started fast, shooting five-of-six from the floor in the opening four minutes to build a 12-7 lead at the first media timeout. McIntosh hit a three-point jumper to trim the lead to 12-10 out of the break before the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to put the score at 24-14 with just under 12 minutes left in the first. Willis Jr. cut the lead to four with a shot from beyond the arc before hitting another one to tie the game at 33 with 7:13 remaining in the half. A third shot from three at the 5:54 mark gave SVSU the lead, 36-33. A jump shot sparked a 9-0 run that flipped the advantage to FSU with just over 2:30 before the half. Ethan Hill made a jumper from deep to cut the deficit in half. The Bulldogs hit the final shot, a dunk, with seven ticks on the clock to hold a 46-41 edge at the intermission.
Ferris State began the second half with an 11-0 run that spanned the first 2:51 of the period to build a 57-41 advantage. Despite facing a 19-point deficit with 14:07 left on the clock, the Cardinals continued to fight and chip away at the lead as McIntosh hit a three-pointer to cut it down to eight points (73-65) with 3:03 left in regulation. Maurice Barnett drilled a jumper from deep to ignite a 5-0 run that closed the margin to just three points with 40 ticks on the clock, however, the Bulldogs hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the result.
UP NEXT
The SVSU men's basketball team will remain at home to face Lake Superior State University on Saturday, January 21. The Lakers and Cardinals are scheduled to tip at 3:00 p.m.
