HOUGHTON, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team dropped a 77-54 contest on the road at Michigan Tech today (Jan. 19) in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action.

The Cardinals took their first lead of the game, 11-10, with just under 13 minutes to play in the half on a Mike Schaaf (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill HS) three point basket.

With the Huskies leading 18-14 with 9:34 to play in the half, SVSU responded with a 16-9 run to close out the first half and enter the locker room leading 30-27.  

Meijer "Player of the Game" Brett Beland (Menominee, Mich.) and Chris Webb paced the Cardinals in the first half with eight points apiece, while Jay Thames (Port Huron, Mich.) added six.

For the half, Saginaw Valley shot 50 percent from the floor on 12-of-24 shooting, while allowing the Huskies to connect on just 43 percent (9-of-21) of their shots.  SVSU also held a 15-10 advantage on the boards, including 4-2 on the offensive end.

The Cardinals would come out of the intermission cold, as Michigan Tech opened the second half on a 17-5 run to take a 44-35 lead with just over 12 minutes to play in the half.  

Saginaw Valley managed to cut the Tech advantage to seven points on a Beland three with 9:55 to play in the game, but were unable to keep the momentum as the Huskies quickly extend their advantage back to double figures.  Beland finished the game with 14 points.

The Huskies pushed their second half lead to as many as 23 points over the Cardinals in the second half as they would go on to the 77-54 victory.

Saginaw Valley finished the game 20-of-54 (37 percent) from the floor, while Michigan Tech shot 19-of-36 from the floor (52.8 percent).

With the loss the Cardinals fall to 7-7 overall on the season and 5-6 in the GLIAC, while Michigan Tech improves to 11-5 on the season and 8-4 in conference.  Saginaw Valley will return to action on Thursday (Jan. 24) when they travel across state to battle Grand Valley at 6:00 PM.