GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team survived a close battle at Davenport with an 81-79 win inside the DU Student Center on Thursday night. The Cardinals (10-15, 6-11 GLIAC) rallied back from a 15-point deficit in the first half to edge out the Panthers (5-20, 1-16 GLIAC) to sweep the season series against DU.

Toodles Seal set a new career high in points with 36 on his way to a third double-double as he added 10 rebounds to his stat line. Seal added four assists and three steals in the contest. Bryson Huckeby tallied 14 points while Richmond Mawutor finished with seven rebounds and six points. Freddie McIntosh recorded eight points and tied a team-high five assists. Triston Nichols tied McIntosh with five assists while adding seven points.

Davenport used a 15-0 run to jump out to a 17-3 lead in the opening eight minutes of the contest. Niko Newsome cut the margin to nine with a three-point jumper at the 11:10 mark, but the Panthers increased the gap to double-digits on the next possession.

A jumper from distance gave DU its largest lead of 36-21 with just over seven minutes remaining before the break. Seal made a three and Mawutor hit a layup to trim the lead back to nine points, 43-34, with 2:16 on the clock in the first.

Seal hit three straight buckets for a 6-0 run that closed the gap to 45-40 with less than 30 seconds before the half. A three by the Panthers ended the first with an eight-point edge for the home team.

Seal tallied 21 points in the opening 20 minutes with 7-of-12 shooting from the floor with six of his points coming from the charity stripe. The Cardinals shot 45.2% for the half while Davenport made 55.9% of its shooting attempts.

McIntosh made a shot from beyond the arc to pull Saginaw Valley State within five points of tying the score in the opening three minutes of the second half. A 5-0 run by Davenport put the lead back to double digits, 54-44 in the early part of the period.

Seal made a driving layup that sparked a 12-3 run for SVSU that tied the score at 62 with 8:15 left in regulation. Huckeby made a three-point jumper at 6:04 to give the Cardinals their first lead since the opening two minutes of the game, 69-67.

Huckeby made three free throws after Davenport tied things with a dunk to put SVSU back up 72-69 with just under four minutes to play. Seal made a jumper outside the paint to give the Cardinals their largest lead of the game, 76-72 with 2:07 on the clock.

The Panthers made a three-pointer in the closing minute to cut the deficit to one point, but Huckeby made a layup and McIntosh made a free throw to preserve the lead and earn the win.

UP NEXT: The Cardinals will remain in Grand Rapids to face Grand Valley State on Saturday inside the GVSU Fieldhouse at 3:00 p.m. (ET).