The Basics
Score: Saginaw Valley 99 - Central State 86
Records: SVSU (2-2) | CSU (0-2)
Location: James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena - University Center, Mich.
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The SVSU men's basketball team opened the home portion of its 2015-16 schedule on Tuesday night and hosted the Central State (Ohio) Marauders with a chance to even its overall record at 2-2 on the season. The Cardinals would do just that, using a solid 52.5% shooting from the floor and leading coast-to-coast to defeat the Marauders by a 13-point margin of 99-86.
Saginaw Valley scored the first seven points of the game, featuring two C.J. Turnage jumpers and a triple from Caleb Davis.
The Cardinals would run out to as much as an 18-point lead in the first period, coming at the 8:04 mark when a pair of Damon Bozeman free throws followed a Turnage layup and another Davis triple.
SVSU held onto the double-digit advantage into the halftime break despite three consecutive points from the Marauders and the scoreboard showed 51-37 in favor of the home team as the teams entered the locker rooms.
Turnage tallied 13 first half points while Bozeman had nine and Davis and Mitchell Baenziger each added eight in the opening 20 minutes of play. Davis and Baenziger both hit on a pair of three-pointers and had two free throws.
Back-to-back buckets from Garrett Hall pushed the Cardinal lead out to 20 points (62-42) at the 17:00 marker of the second half. The lead got up to as many as 26 points when Mike Wells hit the front end of a pair of foul shots with 5:11 left to play that made the score 93-67.
Central State would begin picking away at the lead from there, cutting the deficit under 20 points with the score 97-79 with 2:31 showing on the game clock. The closest it would get the rest of the way, however, is a layup in the final 10 seconds of play that cut the lead to 13 points at 99-86 and the clock expired with the Cards claiming the victory.
Inside the Boxscore
- Turnage led the way for the Cards with a team-high 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. He was 8-of-10 from the floor.
- Davis was 4-of-5 from downtown and scored 15 points while adding seven rebounds and a block.
- Hall added 14 points with a pair of assists, connecting on a pair of triples and going a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
- Devin Dixon led a charge of three players who had 11 points. He secured a double-double as well, grabbing 10 boards for SV. He added a block on the defensive end as well.
- Baenziger and Wells were the others with 11 points, as Baenziger went 3-of-6 from downtown while Wells added a trio of assists and a steal.
- Bozeman had nine points, five boards, three assists and two steals in the contest.
- The Cardinals were 52.5% (32-61) from the floor while the Marauders shot 40.8% (29-71)
- SVSU shot an even 50.0% (12-24) from beyond the arc and led in rebounds, 46-36.
- Tom Johnson led the Marauders with a game-high 21 points while Jeremy Brown had a team-high eight boards.
Meijer "Player of the Game"
Davis earned Meijer Player of the Game honors with his 15 points, seven rebounds and block for the Cardinals.
From Head Coach Randy Baruth
Up Next for the Cardinals...
Saginaw Valley is off until next Thursday (Dec. 3), when the Cardinals host the Ohio Dominican Panthers in an 8:00 p.m. contest at O'Neill Arena. The game follows the SVSU women's basketball team and will open GLIAC play for both teams.
