QUINCY, Ill. -- The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team fell 87-73 to Maryville (Mo.) on the first day of the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic hosted by Quincy University on Saturday evening. The Cardinals (4-4) held a 41-10 lead at the half but were unable to keep pace with the Saints (3-7) in a losing effort.
Elijah Mattingly tallied a career-high 17 points and was one rebound short of a double-double to lead the way for SVSU. Maurice Anderson scored 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor. Triston Nichols added 11 points and seven rebounds to the losing effort, while Toodles Seal scored 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Bryson Huckeby had a team-high 10 boards.
Maryville hit two three-pointers in the opening 90 seconds to take a quick 6-0 lead. Mattingly made two layups and Nichols a dunk to knot the score at eight with 15:01 remaining in the opening half.
Niko Newsome made a shot from distance and Anderson followed suit for a 6-0 run that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the contest, 16-13, with just under 12 minutes before the half.
Later in the half, Anderson hit a shot from beyond the arch to spark a 10-0 run and SVSU held a 13-point edge, 30-17, with 7:25 on the clock. Seal added a layup and Anderson made another shot from distance that gave Saginaw Valley its largest lead of the game of 35-19 with 6:31 left before halftime.
The Saints ended the half with a 21-6 run that cut the deficit to a single point as the teams entered the locker room at the break.
Mattingly scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half and the Cardinals shot an impressive 50% from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play.
A 10-0 run by Maryville with 12:50 on the clock flipped the advantage to the other side (59-51) and the Saints never trailed again. Nichols would trim the deficit to four points with 8:34 left in regulation, but Maryville pulled away to seal the win.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals will play host Quincy tomorrow in the final game of the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic at 4:00 p.m.