MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team was eliminated from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) tournament after a 75-66 loss to Northern Michigan on Wednesday evening. The Cardinals led for the first 36 minutes of the game before the Wildcats grabbed the lead to snag the win and advance to the next round.
Freddie McIntosh once again led SVSU in scoring with 25 points, 18 of which came in the first half alone. Maurice Barnett contributed 12 points off the bench on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor. Chansey Willis Jr. scored 10 points while making four rebounds and dishing three assists. Tre Garrett and Jiovanni Miles tallied seven points in the losing effort.
McIntosh hit two jumpers in the opening three minutes of the game to give SVSU a 4-0 lead to start things off. Two threes from the Saginaw, Michigan native pushed the Cardinal advantage to 10-5, but NMU continued to make buckets and keep the score close. Barnett hit back-to-back three-point jumpers to extend the lead to 21-14 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half. Barnett made a third three just a few minutes later to hold a six-point advantage halfway through the opening period. Four straight points from NMU cut the deficit to 24-22 before another clutch three from McIntosh widened the gap for SVSU again. Another three by McIntosh at the 5:58 mark gave the Cardinals an eight-point edge, but the Wildcats would whittle that down to just two points again in the final two minutes of the first. Garrett scored the last points of the first to hold the advantage for SVSU (37-33) as the teams entered the locker room.
The second half started much as the first had gone, with SVSU holding onto the lead while Northern Michigan battled to keep it close. McIntosh hit a layup and Willis Jr. added another to extend the lead to 44-35 with just 92 seconds taken off the clock in the second half. Max Bjorklund then hit a layup that sparked a 7-0 run for NMU and again cut the deficit down to just two points with 17:09 on the clock. The score remained within a few possessions until the media timeout at 8:27 had the Cardinals leading 57-53. McIntosh hit a three in response to one from NMU to keep the lead in favor of SVSU (This would be the final field goal made by the Cardinals for the game). ThHowever, theildcats used a jump shot to spark a 14-4 run t, giving Northern Michigan a 70-64 lead with 1:55 to play. The rest of the contest was made up of free throws as the Cardinals couldn't make a rally to regain the lead before time expired.