ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team traveled to Ann Arbor to face the University of Michigan Wolverines in its second and final exhibition contest of the 2010-11 season and came up short, dropping a 68-59 contest at Crisler Arena.
The Wolverines jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead before a three-pointer by Mike Schaaf (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill HS) cut the lead to two. Michigan would then rattle-off 13 straight points to take an 18-3 advantage before a layup by Patrick O'Brien (Flint, Mich./Powers Catholic HS) made the score 18-5 at the the 12:29 mark.
The game would go back and forth until there was 3:31 left in the opening half, as both teams scored 14 points to make the score 32-19 in Michigan's advantage. The Cardinals would use a jumper from Chris Webb (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill HS) with only a second remaining on the shot clock at the 1:25 mark and an O'Brien triple with 41 seconds remaining to score the final five points of the half, heading into the locker room trailing 32-24.
The Second half went Michigan's way to start before a jumper by Webb made the score 38-28 at the 16:46 mark. A pair of free throws by Michigan's Tim Hardaway Jr. gave the Wolverines their biggest lead in the game, making the score 55-35 at the 7:09 mark. A pair of late threes by O'Brien would cut Michigan's lead to 67-59 with 25 seconds left, but the clock was not on the Cardinals' side as Michigan would hit one more at the charity stripe to close out the 68-59 victory.
Meijer "Player of the Game" Greg Foster (Indianapolis, Ind./T.C. Howe HS) led the team with 16 points and eight rebounds, as well as a team-high five assists. O'Brien added 11 points and six boards, including going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Webb also reached double-figures in scoring, netting 10 points while playing in a game-high 37 minutes for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals have wrapped-up the exhibition portion of their schedule, and will be back in action again on Friday, November 19th., when they face the University of Wisconsin-Parkside at Northwood University. Game time is set for 6:00 pm in Midland, Mich.
