GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team suffered a 76-68 loss to Grand Valley State in Grand Rapids on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals (10-16, 6-12 GLIAC) battled back from 24 points down, but couldn't complete the comeback against the Lakers (14-12, 10-8 GLIAC).
Toodles Seal led SVSU in scoring with 22 points and 12 rebounds, recording his third-straight double-double and fifth of the season. Seal also added a team-high five assists. Bryson Huckeby was one point shy of his career-high and a rebound short of a double-double, with 17 points and nine boards. Triston Nichols tallied 12 points in the losing effort.
Grand Valley hopped out to a 10-3 lead in the opening four minutes of play and never trailed for the full 40 minutes of the contest.
SVSU continued to do enough to keep the deficit in the single digits including using six straight points to trim the advantage to 27-24 with 2:46 left before the break.
The Lakers used an 8-0 run in the closing 2:22 of the first to build a 35-24 lead as the teams entered the locker room at the half.
Saginaw Valley closed the gap back to seven points, 38-31, with a layup from Richmond Mawutor at the 18:25 mark of the second half, but Grand Valley hit a jumper that sparked a 9-0 run that spanned almost three minutes of play and pushed the lead to 16 points, 47-31.
The deficit held down to the final 10 minutes of play until a free throw widened the gap to 60-40 with 9:25 left in regulation.
The Cardinals outscored the Lakers 25-9 in the final 6:30 of play including a 14-0 run that began with a three-point jumper by Seal at the 2:57 mark of the half and put the score at its final tally with a free throw from Nichols going in with 14 seconds remaining.
SVSU finished the game shooting 33.3% from the floor but made 24 of 28 free throws, which helped the team battle back in the closing minutes.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals return home for the final two games of the regular season and will host Lake Superior State on Thursday, February 27 at 7:30 p.m.