Box Score Cardinals soar over Marauders with 99-86 victory
 

SAGINAW, Michigan – Playing their first game in over a week, Central State fell to the hot shooting Cardinals of Saginaw Valley State, 99-86, on Tuesday night.

Ranked in the preseason as one of the top teams in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), SVSU opened the game up with a 9-2 run and never looked back. The Cardinals led by as many as 18 in the first half while the Marauders struggled to find an answer defensively. Tom Johnson came off the bench with 12 points in the first half to keep CSU in the game while Jeremy Brown hit a layup late the half to cut the Cardinal lead to 51-36 going into the break.

The Cardinal shooters opened the second half hitting 4 of their first 5 shots from beyond the arc as the SVSU lead ballooned to 24. Caleb Davis finished 4 for 5 from the three point line while teammate Mitch Baenziger was 2-4 from the perimeter in the second half. As a team, the Cardinals shot 58% from the field (21-36) and converted 50% of their three point attempts (8-16). With most of the reserves finishing out the game, CSU chopped away at the SVSU lead to narrow the final gap to 13 at the final horn.

In addition to SVSU terrific night from the field, SVSU outrebounded CSU, 46 to 36, leading to a 16-6 advantage over the Marauders in second chance points.

"They simply made the shots and we didn't. I also thought our struggles at the line kept us from making a run on multiple occasions," said CSU coach Joseph Price. "We did get great play from a freshman in Tom Johnson as well as solid contributions of our bench from Sean Cassidy and others. While I was disappointed in our overall shooting and result, we will learn from this experience heading into conference play."

CSU, which fell to 0-2 on the season, had five players score in double-figures Freshman Tom Johnson came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points on 7 of 14 shooting. Hosie Smith Jr finished with 16 points and 6 rebounds while Tre' Edwards recorded 13 points. Sean Cassidy contributed with 12 points and Jeremy Brown chipped in with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

SVSU forward C.J. Turnage led a balanced Cardinal offense with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Davis finished with 15 points while Damon Bozeman had 14 on the night. Baenziger, Mike Wells and Devon Dixon each scored 11 points off the bench as SVSU improved to 2-2 on the season.

The Marauders are off until Dec. 3^rd when they host Benedict College in the first SIAC game of the year. The two teams are scheduled to tip-off the action in Beacom/Lewis Gymnasium at 7:30 pm.

For tickets, go to - http://centralstate.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event_listings.asp
 

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