UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley men's basketball team had to withstand a late charge by Michigan Tech to earn a hard-fought 53-50 victory at the Ryder Center.

SVSU (11-11, 9-10 GLIAC) got off to a 6-0 start after the first three minutes of play when Meijer 'Player of the Game' Chris Webb (Saginaw, Mich. / Arthur Hill HS) nailed a three-pointer from the left corner. MTU (16-7, 13-6 GLIAC) continued to struggle against the tough Cardinal defense and fell behind 15-5 after a triple from Brett Beland (Menominee, Mich. / Menominee HS) with 11 minutes to play in the half.

Saginaw Valley went up 17-7 with 7:06 left in the opening half when Beland took a steal coast-to-coast for a layup.

A Webb three-pointer gave the Cardinals a 20-11 lead with four minutes remaining. However, SVSU would not score again and went into the half with a 20-16 lead.

Saginaw Valley played well defensively in the first half, holding Michigan Tech to a season-low 18 points for a half. The Cardinals also forced seven turnovers and held the Huskies to just 5-for-19 (26 percent) shooting from the floor in the half.

As a team, the Cardinal offense shot 36 percent from beyond the arc, making five of their six first half field goals from downtown.

Saginaw Valley continued their strong play to open the second half and after three minutes of play went up 29-22 on a pair of Beland free throws.

SVSU pushed their lead to 33-22 with 14 minutes to play as Mike Schaaf (Saginaw, Mich. / Arthur Hill HS) drove to the bucket and made a contested layup with the shot clock winding down.

The Cardinals maintained a 44-36 lead after a baseline three-pointer from Beland with 5:41 remaining in the contest.

With the game tied at 46 apiece, Damon Bozeman (Detroit, Mich. / Madison Heights HS) made a driving layup to put the Cardinals up 48-46 with 1:35 to play.

After allowing a score on defense, the Cardinals got a go-ahead three-pointer from Kellen Smith (Covington, Kentucky / Scott HS) to take a 51-48 lead with 43 seconds remaining. However, on the ensuing possession, the Cardinals defense was called for a foul and gave up a pair of free throws.

Clinging to a one-point lead, the Saginaw Valley defense forced a stop and Webb was fouled on the rebound and made both free throws with 11 seconds on the clock. On the final play of the game, the Cardinal defense forced an errant desperation three-pointer to preserve a 53-50 win.

SVSU was led by Webb, who played a complete game on offense and defense scoring 15 points and grabbing a team-high six rebounds to go with four helpers. Beland provided a spark for the Cardinal offense, scoring a team-high 18 points.

The Cardinals never trailed in the game due to their ability to consistently knock down three-pointers and play tough defense against one of the conference's dominant big men. The Cardinals went 10-of-31 from beyond the arc and forced 11 turnovers, while committing just six.

Saginaw Valley men's basketball team returns to action on Thursday (Feb. 21) for their Senior Night contest against Grand Valley State at 6:00PM.