The men’s basketball team couldn’t keep their momentum going from a win earlier in the week, as they fell to Northwood 80-77 on Saturday, Jan. 26, in a hard-fought overtime game.
On Wednesday, Jan. 23 during the first home game back from a long road trip, the Cardinals made easy work out of Grace Christian on their way to an 89-73 victory, holding a strong lead throughout the contest. Four Cardinals made it into double-figure scoring numbers via junior Fred John Jr. and freshman Avery Lewis, who both had 10. Freshman Myles Belyeu and sophomore Darnell Hoskins Jr. both added 18.
Saturday at home, SVSU had a tougher challenge ahead of them in the form of the Northwood Timberwolves, as both teams were sitting at 7-11 record heading into the contest.
Northwood came out blazing with a 9-0 run to open the first half, but the hot hand was traded back and forth.
The Cardinals quickly answered back via some strong play by sophomore guard James Toohey and his 13 first half points, including 5-5 from the free throw line, which were enough for the lead.
The first half stayed tight until a long-range jumper from John gave the Cardinals a nine-point advantage, their biggest lead of the half, going into the second half.
The Cardinals took control for the beginning of the second half. It almost seemed like a strong routing of the Timberwolves was about to take place. The team made a 7-0 run to start off the half, increasing their lead to 16.
It was Belyeu who took control, as 17 of his team-high 25 points came in the second. He shot 7-11 from the field and 3-3 from the line in an attempt to will the Cards to victory.
However, Northwood ramped it up toward the end of the second half. A 16-4 run was enough for the Timberwolves to take the lead.
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Going into the final 30 seconds of the game, the Cards had the ball, down two with a chance to win or tie. With two seconds left, Hoskins managed to drop in a close-range bucket to tie and send the game into overtime.
The overtime was as hard-fought as the rest of the game, as neither team saw much budging. Northwood was able to find the slightest lead and maintain it throughout the overtime play.
With four seconds left, a Northwood foul sent John to the line for two with the Cards trailing by three.
The first free throw was good, but the second was off the mark. Hoskins succeeded in retrieving the offensive board, leading to a successful put-back that would have tied the game up, sending it to another overtime.
However, the basket didn’t count, as Hoskins was called for an offensive foul leading up to the put-back, sending Northwood to the line.
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Northwood made the first, but missed the second. Hoskins got the board and fired up a prayer as time expired in an attempt to shock the Timberwolves a third time, but he was unsuccessful.
This week, the men will try to end their four-game homestand strong with a couple of home matches against Ferris State on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 2, against Lake Superior State at 3 p.m.
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