UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team pulled away in the second half and held on to defeat Purdue Northwest, 86-78, on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals (5-6, 2-1 GLIAC) had three players score double-digit points in the winning effort. Freddie McIntosh led the way with 26 points on 5-9 shooting from three in the win.

Maurice Barnett added 21 points and six rebounds to contribute to the victory. Tre Garrett recorded 16 points and led the team in rebounds with eight. Steven Post also put in work down low as he hauled in six boards and six points.

The first half was a back-and-forth, close contest as the lead changed five times, and the score was tied another five times. The Pride (6-5, 1-3) used a 5-0 run in the first four minutes of the game to take a 7-3 lead before the Cardinals responded with a 5-0 run to tie things up at ten just a few minutes later. Barnett hit a jumper to spark another 5-0 run for SVSU that built a 15-11 lead just under halfway through the first half. The score would be tied three times in the next six minutes, with the final deadlock at 22 points. A 5-0 run for PNW put the score at 30-25, but the Cardinals kept things close as they used a 7-0 run at the end of the period to hold a 35-32 lead at the break. Barnett had a great first half with 12 points and 5-8 shooting. McIntosh also scored over 10 with 3-5 shooting from three-point land.

Garrett, McIntosh, and Barnett each hit a shot from distance during a 12-2 run that gave SVSU a 49-36 lead, and the Cardinals never looked back. Post made a jumper at the 10:38 mark to push the advantage to 19 points (60-41), the game's largest lead. The Pride pressed in the waning minutes of the second half, going on a 6-1 run in the final 91 seconds to cut the lead to eight points, but the Cardinals held on to secure the victory at the final buzzer.

UP NEXT

The SVSU men's hoops team will get a bit of a break before a short road trip to Midland for a game at Northwood on Monday, December 19, at 3:00 PM.