UNIVERSITY CENTER -- The Cardinal Men's Basketball team hosted Purdue Northwest on Thursday (Jan. 2) night to open the new year on O'Neill Arena. After leading 42-33 at the half, the Cards maintained throughout the second and delivered an 87-74 win.
Saginaw Valley got big nights from sophomore guard Myles Belyeu and junior guard Malik Ellison, who scored 32 and 24 points, respectively, to lead the way.
The victory moves SV to 8-3 overall on the season and 3-1 in the GLIAC while Purdue Northwest falls to 5-8 and 0-4 in league action.
The Cards got their first double-digit lead of the first half at the 6:33 marker when Nick Thran drilled a three-pointer to make the score 30-18 in SVSU's favor. An Ellison layup with just 36 seconds left in the opening half put the lead at nine at 42-33, which is where it stood heading into the break.
SVSU built that lead to as many as 19 points in the second half, using a layup from Sebastiano Lamonato to make the count 66-47 at the 11:15 point. The Pride got to within seven points (72-65) with 4:46 left but the home team stayed strong and was able to finish the victory by a final score of 87-74.
Inside the Boxscore
- Belyeu's 32 points matched his career-high and he added a game-high eight rebounds in the effort. He was named the Meijer "Player of the Game."
- Ellison's 24 came with six assists, four rebounds and three steals.
- Darnell Hoskins Jr. had 10 points with three boards, two assists and three steals.
- Innocent Nwoko added six boards with two blocks and a steal.
- Lamonato added six rebounds as well.
Postgame Interview - Randy Baruth
Up Next...
Saginaw Valley hits the road for a trip to Wisconsin to face Parkside on Saturday (Jan. 4) afternoon. Tip-off will be 4:00 p.m. eastern time from Kenosha. You can follow all of the action live at www.svsucardinals.com.
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