UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team defeated rival Northwood 84-77 on Tuesday night (Nov. 21) inside of O'Neill Arena. The Cardinals (3-2) have won six-straight games in the series against the Timberwolves (2-3), and extend the current winning streak to three this season.
Dylan West tallied a career-high as a member of SVSU with 17 points and 11 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season. Seven of West's rebounds were offensive and helped toward the Cardinals' 20 second-chance points.
"[I] was really happy with Kev out tonight, Dylan stepp[ed] up and help[ed] us out a lot," said Head Men's Basketball Coach Randy Baruth. "It was really good to see him finish and build his confidence..."
Toodles Seal also completed his first double-double of the year with 20 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Freddie McIntosh added 10 points, while Tre Garrett scored 11 to complete the double-digit performances for Saginaw Valley State.
The Cardinals jumped to a quick 10-2 lead in the opening three minutes of play and never looked back on the way to the win. The Timberwolves cut the lead to four points with 13:52 left in the first half, but SVSU built it back up to 11 just above the halfway mark of the first. A 9-1 run by Northwood got the score as close as it would get for the game at 22-19 with 7:17 left on the clock before the break. The Cardinals pushed it back to double-digits for a short time, but Northwood was able to keep it to single digits as both teams entered the locker room for halftime.
McIntosh and Seal scored 10 of their points in the second half as SVSU would jump up to its highest lead of the game (79-61) in the final four minutes of regulation. The lead sat at 16 with 2:42 left before the Timberwolves rattled off nine-straight points to cut the deficit to seven points but ran out of time before they could complete the rally.
Saginaw Valley finished the game with a 54-46 advantage in points in the paint, a 20-7 edge in second-chance points, and a 20-12 win in fast-break scores. SVSU finished the game with 50% shooting from the floor and outrebounded Northwood, 51-27, with 21 offensive rebounds within that total.
"We are trying to get to that. We are trying to become that offensive rebounding team...," stated Baruth.
The Cardinals will host Wilberforce on Monday, November 27 at 7:00 p.m. The game is the second of a four-game homestand.
