UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team fell 108-103 in an overtime thriller against Davenport on Thursday night.
Senior guard Tre Garrett continued his dominant play at home moving the needle on his career-high for points to 41 to lead the Cardinals (12-9, 5-7 GLIAC). That total was eight points shy of the single-game record for SVSU and is the first time in Garrett's career that he reached the 40-point mark.
Garrett made the opening bucket of the game with a layup off a second-change opportunity with just 22 ticks off the clock. The Panthers (9-12, 4-7 GLIAC) used a 5-0 run to capture the lead, 7-2, with 17:35 left in the first half.
Garrett responded with a layup throw contact and finished the and-one to cut the deficit to 7-6. Davenport provided a rebuttal 9-0 run to grab its largest lead of the game at 16-6 with 13:43 on the clock.
Freddie McIntosh sparked an 8-0 run for SVSU with a pull-up jumper to bring the Cardinals within two points of tying the game. Ethan Hill and Alijah Harrison hit shots from deep to contribute to the run.
Toodles Seal hit a free throw to knot things up at 21 with 9:48 on the clock. That free-throw attempt came off a 6-0 run that was started by Dylan West and flipped the score to Saginaw Valley State, 24-21, with just over nine minutes remaining in the half.
Seal ignited another 6-0 run later in the first to give SVSU a 36-30 advantage out of the final media timeout of the opening session.
Hill pushed the advantage to nine points (42-33) in the closing seconds, but a jumper by the Panthers put the score at 42-35 going into the break.
Garrett got things going for the Cardinals in the second stanza with another and-one that extended the SVSU lead to five points with 18:37 on the clock.
The lead would sit at five for the next 7:26 when Garrett made a layup off a turnover and pushed the lead to 69-62 with 11:05 left in regulation.
The Panthers battled back with a 7-0 run to tie things up with 9:53 left before the final buzzer. Davenport held a five-point edge for until the 3:31 mark when McIntosh drilled a three that put things at 88-86.
The deficit grew to four points before West hit a layup off a turnover and Garrett made a clutch play in the final 67 seconds when he swiped the ball from DU and hit a driving layup to tie the game at 90 and force the overtime period.
The Panthers hit a three to start the extra session and built a six-point advantage three times and held out for the rest of the time to earn the win.
Seal had 24 points and five rebounds. Garrett added a team-high seven rebounds and five steals to his totals. West tallied 15 points and six rebounds off the bench and McIntosh added 13 points, three assists, and a steal to the box score.
The Cardinals scored 56 points in the paint and outscored Davenport 26-14 in points off turnovers. SVSU also won the battle off the bench with a 23-13 victory. The game saw five lead changes and six ties.
SVSU will look to bounce back with a win at home on Saturday, February 10, when Grand Valley State comes to O'Neill Arena for a 3:00 p.m., tip.
