ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team fell to rival Grand Valley State University tonight (Feb. 2) by a final score of 75-56.  With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 10-10 on the season and 6-7 in the GLIAC, while the Lakers improve to 11-9 overall on the season and 7-6 in the conference.

Senior Eli Redman (Bath, Mich.) gave the Cardinals an early 10-9 advantage with 14:16 remaining in the first half on a pair of free throws.  Redman would earn his second straight Meijer "Player of the Game" honor, finishing the game with 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor.  He would also go 11-of-11 from the charity stripe on the evening.

Mike Schaaf (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill HS) would hit on three of his seven points to cut the Grand Valley advantage to 21-17 with 8:00 minutes left in the first.

That would be as close as the Cardinals would get in the half as they entered the locker room trailing 40-26.

Saginaw Valley's offensive woes would continue in the early stages of the second half as the Cardinals would fall behind by as many as 21 with just under 14:00 minutes to play.

Greg Foster (Indianapolis, Ind./T.C. Howe HS) helped bring the Cardinals back into the contest as he cashed in on a layup to cut the deficit to 62-49 at the 6:44 mark of the second half.

Two possessions later, Redman would connect on two more free throws to bring the Laker lead to 62-51 just inside six minutes to play, but Saginaw Valley would be unable to close the gap as they fell 75-56.

Despite the loss, Saginaw Valley continued to protect the basketball, committing just seven turnovers compared to 12 for the Lakers.

The Cardinals will return to action on Saturday (Feb. 4) when they travel to Big Rapids to take on Ferris State at 3:00 PM.