UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team battled to a close win over Wayne State, 65-62, on Friday in O'Neill Arena. The Cardinals (8-3, 2-1) outrebounded the Warriors, 44-38, and shot 14-of-18 from the charity stripe.

 

"I think we did a great job of adjusting in the second half and taking our level up a notch," said head coach Chris Fowler. "We were able to get contributions from many people, and it was a good win for us."

 

Meijer Player of the Game, Xavier Thomas (Detroit, Mich. / Brother Rice HS), led SVSU in scoring with 21 points and steals with four. He scored seven of his points during the Cardinals' 11-0 run in the first half. This was the fourth time this season that Thomas has led the team in points.

 

Wayne State scored the first two buckets of the game before SVSU went on an 11-0 run to take their largest lead of the first half, and didn't trail again through the remainder of the half. The Warriors hit a three at the buzzer to tie the game at 35 going into halftime. Thomas led all scorers at the break with 13 points while Bryson Huckeby (Freeland, Mich. / Freeland HS) and Marquese Josephs (Mississauga, Ont. / Dream City Christian) followed with nine. Josephs finished the game with 15, and Huckeby finished with nine.

 

Dontez Scott II (Romulus, Mich. / Romulus HS) started out the second half hot, scoring seven of his eight points in a short period that tied the game and then gave the Cardinals the lead. SVSU never lost that lead and led by as much as nine down the stretch.

 

Saginaw Valley State outshot the Warriors, 37.9% to 36.1% from the floor. This includes SVSU shooting 33.3% from three-point range compared to Wayne State's 17.4%. Triston Nichols (Shelby Twp., Mich. / De La Salle HS) led the team with career highs in rebounds with 12 and blocks with four. This was Nichols'  first double-digit rebound game of his career.

 

"He completely changed the intensity of the game for us in the second half," Fowler said. "It is a blessing as a coach to be able to bring somebody like that into the game who you can always trust to be steady and stabilize the entire group. I think he was a great catalyst for us, especially guarding their best player."

 

UP NEXT: Saginaw Valley State will host Purdue Northwest in O'Neill Arena on Sunday at 2:00 PM (ET) for their fourth GLIAC competition of the season.