UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team outlasted Davenport in a 64-61 decision on Saturday afternoon inside O'Neill Arena. The Cardinals (4-3, 1-1 GLIAC) fought off the Panthers (2-6, 0-2 GLIAC) after the team battled back from a 12-point deficit in the second half to earn the first win in GLIAC play.
Meijer Player of the Game Toodles Seal scored a season-high 25 points in the winning effort as he shot 11-for-15 from the floor in nearly 32 minutes of play. Freddie McIntosh added 16 points including fourth buckets from deep. Triston Nichols tallied 11 points. Richmond Mawutor pulled down a game-high nine rebounds including four offensive boards. McIntosh was SVSU's main playmaker with five assists in the winning effort.
McIntosh hit a three to start the game and Seal scored on an alley-oop from McIntosh to capture a 5-0 lead in the opening 60 seconds of play. The Cardinals built the lead to 11, 18-7 with 9:03 remaining in the first half. Davenport would trim the margin to four with 86 ticks left in the first, but Seal made the final bucket of the period to give the home team the 28-22 advantage at the half.
Seal sparked an 8-0 run in the opening three minutes of the second frame that gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the contest, 36-24 with 16:12 remaining. A 10-0 run by Davenport cut the SVSU edge to just two points, 38-36 just over three minutes later. McIntosh responded with a three-point jumper that ignited a 12-2 run for the Cardinals and the score was 48-38 with 9:06 left in regulation. DU scored nine straight points to trim the lead to one point with six and a half on the clock. Joey Cabana gave Davenport the lead with a jumper outside the paint at 2:28. Elijah Mattingly hit a layup to flip the advantage back and the Cardinals made free throws down the stretch to never surrender the slim margin again.
UP NEXT: The SVSU men's hoops team will hit the road for a two-day tournament in Quincy, Illinois next Saturday and Sunday, December 14-15. The Cardinals face Maryville (Mo.) at 6:00 p.m. Saturday before playing host Quincy on Sunday for a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.
