HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team suffered a 68-66 loss to Michigan Tech in Houghton on Thursday night. The Cardinals (6-9, 2-5 GLIAC) led by double-digits late in the second half, but the Huskies (11-4, 6-1 GLIAC) closed the gap and took the win with a last-second shot.

Elijah Mattingly had an efficient night with his second double-double as a Cardinal with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Toodles Seal was the leading scorer for SVSU with 18 points. Freddie McIntosh added 16 points while Bryson Huckeby scored 10 for Saginaw Valley.

Michigan Tech jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead before Niko Newsom hit a three-point jumper to get the scoring going for SVSU. Michigan Tech kept the edge and built a 14-7 lead until back-to-back shots from deep by Seal cut the advantage to one with 11:57 left on the clock.

Seal made another shot from beyond the arc at 5:27 that gave Saginaw Valley State its first lead of the game, 25-24, and sparked an 11-0 run that went into the closing two minutes of the first half and had the Cardinals leading 33-24. Elijah Mattingly made the final basketball in the closing seconds to put the score at 25-27 as the teams entered the locker room at the break.

McIntosh and Bryson hit three-point jumpers to extend the lead to 41-30 in the opening minute of the second frame. SVSU maintained the double-digit lead into the final 10 minutes of regulation with a 61-50 advantage with 8:03 on the clock.

Tech's 6-0 run trimmed the lead to five points with just under seven minutes to play. Seal completed a dunk to move the Cardinals up seven before the Huskies added six more points to trail 63-62 with 3:53 remaining.

McIntosh drilled a three to go up four and Tech answered with two free throws to trim the lead to a bucket. Two more free throws by the home team knotted the score at 66 with 2:14 left.

The Cardinals had two more shot attempts to win the game but missed both and the Huskies made a jumper with one tick on the clock to take the 68-66 win.

SVSU shot 42.4% from the floor and 52% from three in the losing effort. Thirty-seven of the Cardinals' 66 points came off the bench, and the team totaled 12 second-chance points.

UP NEXT: The Saginaw Valley State men's basketball team finishes its trip to the UP with a matchup at Northern Michigan on Saturday, January 18. Tip-off for the game against the Wildcats is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.