UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team scored 51 points in the second half to pull away to a 93-80 victory over Grand Valley State University on Thursday night inside O'Neill Arena.
Chansey Willis Jr. set a new career-high in points with 28 on 11-15 shooting. The Detroit, Michigan native made all four of his three-point attempts and also dished six assists. Tre Garrett scored 23 points with a perfect nine-for-nine from the free-throw line. Freddie McIntosh totaled 20 points and had six rebounds and four assists on his stat line. The trio of Willis Jr., Garrett, and McIntosh made up 71 of the team's 93 points in the win.
The first half was close for the entire 20-minute period with 13 lead changes and 10 ties in the frame. The Lakers built a seven-point lead while the Cardinals had a five-point advantage in the half. Willis Jr. exploded with 17 of his 28 points coming before the intermission. GVSU scored the final bucket of the period to hold a 43-42 edge as the teams entered the locker room.
The second stanza started like the first until McIntosh hit a three to spark a 6-0 run that gave SVSU a four-point tilt. Garrett started a 5-0 run two minutes later to extend the lead to 61-54 with just over 12:30 to play. The Lakers kept things close until Kevonne Taylor hit a layup that ignited a 5-0 run and gave the Cardinals their largest lead thus far, 66-58, with 10:02 on the clock. Grand Valley State battled back and tied things up at 68 with 6:29 remaining in regulation. McIntosh hit a clutch three-point jumper that started a 5-0 run in the closing two minutes. Taylor hit a free throw before a turnover allowed Garrett to make a layup to extend the lead to 87-80 with 29 ticks on the clock. Two free throws from Chansey pushed the lead to nine as Saginaw Valley made free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
UP NEXT
The SVSU men's basketball team will remain at home to host Davenport on Saturday, February 18 at 3:00 PM. The game with the Panthers is the regular season home finale and the Cardinals will celebrate senior day during pregame.
