Posted: Jan 15, 2026
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. -- The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team had a wild comeback come up just short against No. 8 Michigan Tech, falling 80-78. The Cardinals (9-6, 3-4) trailed by as much as 21 in the loss.
"There are ups and downs in energy that we have to address and figure out. When we play with the urgency and intensity that we are capable of playing with, we are a really hard team to play against," said SVSU head coach Chris Fowler. "I think the group is resilient. I think what we are trying to figure out is why do we have to get down to become resilient? I think we will figure it out, and when we do we are going to be tough to stop."
Meijer Player of the Game, Marquese Josephs (Mississauga, Ont. / Dream City Christian), scored 18 points, recorded four rebounds, and one assist in the loss. He had 13 points in the first half while shooting 6-of-7 from the field. He finished the game with a 72.7% field-goal percentage.
The Cardinals trailed early, going down 16-0 in the first five minutes. Josephs had Saginaw Valley's first bucket, which started a 20-5 run that made it a one-point game. The momentum turned again as Michigan Tech ended the first half on a 12-2 run, taking a 47-31 lead into the break.
Saginaw Valley State had their largest run of the game in the second half, which cut the lead to six. The Cardinals continued to climb back, trailing by one with 12 seconds remaining. Xavier Thomas (Detroit, Mich. / Brother Rice HS) and Aidan Duran (Spring, Texas / Victory Rock Prep) both hit threes down the stretch to keep the team's hopes alive. Thomas finished the game with a game-high 31 points, 12 of which came in the final three minutes of the game. Duran finished with nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Triston Nichols (Shelby Twp., Mich. / De La Salle HS) was a double-digit scorer for the Cardinals as well with 10 points, going 2-of-2 from three. As a team, Saginaw Valley shot 44.1% from the floor, the second-highest mark against the Huskies this season. They also tied for the best three-point shooting clip against MTU, going 8-of-19 (42.1%).
UP NEXT: The Cardinals will face a ranked team for the second straight game when they host #20 Northern Michigan on Saturday at 3:00 PM (ET) in O'Neill Arena.
