KENOSHA, Wis. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team held off Wisconsin-Parkside to earn a 68-65 win on the road on Thursday night. The Cardinals (8-11, 4-7 GLIAC) held off a late second-half push by the Rangers (9-10, 6-5 GLIAC) to improve to 4-7 in conference play.
Freddie McIntosh was the leading scorer for SVSU with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting that included two three-point jumpers. McIntosh also led the team with six assists. That total matches his season-high total he set last game versus Roosevelt. Bryson Huckeby added 15 points and five rebounds. Toodles Seal registered 13 points and five rebounds and Niko Newsom was the fourth Cardinal in double digits with 11. Richmond Mawutor led down low with seven rebounds.
McIntosh scored the first two buckets of the game to spark SVSU to start 5-of-7 from the floor and jump out to a 12-3 in the opening five minutes of play.
Back-to-back three-point jumpers from Parkside helped trim the lead to 16-14 with 13:04 on the clock in the first half. A 5-0 run later in the period tied the score at 27 with just over five minutes remaining before the half.
Newsome made a layup to increase the lead to six points (35-29) with 2:19 left and the Cardinals took a five-point lead into the half.
Eleven of Huckeby's points came in the first 20 minutes of play as Saginaw Valley State shot an impressive 61.5% from the floor including 4-of-9 from three-point range.
The Rangers trimmed the deficit to three points in the opening minute of play, but Newsome made a jumper and a three-pointer that sparked a 9-2 run and SVSU held its largest lead of the contest, 50-39, with just under five minutes expired from the second half.
A 10-0 run by Parkside dropped the margin to a single point and a 5-0 run gave Parkside its first lead of the game, 54-51, with just under 11 minutes left of regulation.
The teams would tie twice more and change leads five times by the final buzzer. Two free throws by Mawuotor flipped the advantage for the Cardinals before a three-pointer by the Rangers took the lead back. Seal responded with a three that tilted the needle back to SVSU (58-57) with 9:05 on the clock.
The Rangers used a 5-0 run to recapture the lead, but Seal hit another shot from deep to tie things up for the final time at 61 with 6:44 left in the game.
A pull-up jumper for Parkside kept the edge for the home team, but McIntosh hit a dagger from beyond the arc and gave the Cardinals the final lead of the game. The Rangers trimmed it to one point in the closing minute, but McIntosh made both free throw attempts to seal the victory for Saginaw Valley State.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals remain on the road for a date against Purdue Northwest on Saturday, February 1. The game against the Pride is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. (ET).