UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team dropped the home opener 92-70 to Hillsdale on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals (0-2) got into foul trouble in the second half and the Chargers (2-0) capitalized by making 18-of-21 free-throw attempts in the second half (Hillsdale was 25-of-29 from the charity stripe in the game).

Meijer Player of the Game Toodles Seal scored 23 points in the game after making eight of his 15-shot attempts in the contest. Seal made all five free throw attempts with two rebounds, a steal, and a block.

Redshirt freshman Triston Nichols set a career-high with 12 points in the losing effort. Richmond Mawutor recorded eight rebounds and Elijah Mattingly had a team-high two blocks.

Hillsdale jumped out to a 7-0 run in the game's opening three minutes. Niko Newsome hit a layup and sparked a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 9-7 at 16:06. Seal scored a layup to give the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 14-13, with 14:07 on the clock in the first half. Nichols and Seal hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Saginaw Valley State its largest lead of the game, 20-17 at the 12:52 mark of the first period. A 7-0 run recaptures the lead for the Chargers and the visitor never looked back in the game. Back-to-back threes by Hillsdale gave the game the first double-digit lead of 35-24 with just under eight minutes on the clock. The lead grew to 16 before settling at 51-37 as the teams entered the break.

Free throws were the difference in the second half as the Cardinals fell into foul trouble early as the Chargers reached the double bonus at the 9:35 mark to build the lead to where it fell at the final buzzer.

UP NEXT: Saginaw Valley State men's basketball remains at home to host Grace Christian on Friday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. (ET). The game against the Lancers is the second in a three-game home stand for the Cardinals.