UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team fell to Tiffin University tonight (Jan. 26), 84-77. The loss drops the Cardinals to 9-9 on the season and 5-6 in the GLIAC, while the Dragons improve to 9-11 overall and 4-9 in the conference.

The Cardinal found themselves in an early 23-10 hole before Meijer "Player of the Game" George Goodman (Saginaw, Mich./Buena Vista HS) connected from the perimeter on three consecutive possessions to bring SVSU within six, 25-19, at the 9:04 mark of the first half.

Greg Foster (Indianapolis, Ind./T.C. Howe HS) proceeded to score on Saginaw Valley's next two possessions to cut the Dragon lead to 27-24 with 6:52 to go until halftime.

Tiffin pushed their lead back to six before Goodman once again connected from the three-point arc on two consecutive possessions to bring SVSU with three, 35-32 with four minutes to play in the half. Goodman finished the contest with a career-high 23 points including 7-of-11 from the three-point arc.

After a Tiffin run to end the half, the Cardinals trailed by a score of 48-34. Goodman recorded 15 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting from the perimeter.

Saginaw Valley would trail by as many as 16 points in the early stages of the second half. A Foster scoop and score brought the Cardinals within 57-46 at the 10:39 mark. Foster would finish the contest with 17 points, ten assists and nine rebounds.

SVSU would once again cut a large Tiffin lead to 69-58 at the 5:59 mark thanks to a pair of made free throws from Chris Webb (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill HS).

The Cardinals would mount a comeback, cutting the deficit to 72-65, as Goodman once again hit from outside the arc and Mike Schaaf (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill HS) connected on two free throws on the next possession. Schaaf would finish the evening with 11 points and six rebounds.

Saginaw Valley continued the rally as Webb slashed to the bucket and put one off the window for two and the foul. 

As the Cardinals turned up the defensive pressure on the Dragons, Chris Webb worked his way off a screen and connected for two bringing SVSU within 76-72 at the two minute mark. Webb finished the night with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field.

However, SVSU was unable to close the gap any further as Tiffin went on to the 84-77 victory.

The Cardinals will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 28) when they host Ohio Dominican for a 3:00 PM tip.