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Printer-Friendly ModeMen hold off Timberwolves at the end for second straight win
February 13, 2006 —
After being on the short end of several close games this year, the SVSU men's basketball team came out on top for once, despite nearly fouling its way to another loss.
The Cardinals used 19 points from Chris Johnston and a 13-1 run to begin the second half to beat visiting Northwood 70-65 on Saturday, their second consecutive win.
The run put SVSU up 17 points less than four minutes into the second half, but the Timberwolves began chipping away at the lead and were able to cut it to seven with 6:36 left. The Cardinals, who had lost several games already this season after losing significant leads, responded with an 8-2 run to push the lead back to 13 with 4:08 left in the game.
Northwood came charging back down the stretch, eventually cutting the lead to two, 65-63, after a three-pointer by freshman Aaron Simpson. Following the basket, Simpson made a freshman mistake, committing an intentional foul on Cardinals junior Martell Summers.
Summers made one of two free throws, and following the inbound pass, Johnston committed an offensive foul to give the Timberwolves the ball back down 66-63 with 45 seconds left. A turnover by freshman Steffan Liebler ended Northwood's chances, though, as SVSU made its foul shots on the other end to preserve the victory.
Coach Jamie Matthews pointed to sophomore center Mike Zuiderveen's fifth foul with 7:32 left as a reason for the Timberwolves' comeback.
"Mike was a big presence on (defense)," Matthews said. "He made up for a lot of our mistakes by preventing layups. When Simpson got the ball deep (in the lane), Mike was there."
After Zuiderveen fouled out, center Kevin Thornton replaced him. The freshman came in with four fouls of his own and fouled out with 1:34 left and SVSU up by seven, leaving the Cardinals without an inside presence.
Both teams shot 22-of-49 (44.9 percent) from the field, but SVSU held a six-point advantage in three pointers. The Cardinals shot 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from the behind the arc, while Northwood shot just 4-of-17.
Juniors Andrae Betts and Sydney McDaniel were the only other Cardinals to score in double figures, with 13 points apiece. Johnston led all players with eight rebounds.
The freshman Simpson led all scorers with 24 points, including 17 in the second half.
The win was encouraging, Matthews said. With three out of their last four games against below-.500 opponents, the Cardinals have a chance to end the season on a winning note. Two of the games are against Lake Superior State, who the Cardinals beat by 25 in Sault Ste. Marie last weekend, and Northwood.
"We can win those games, but we could also lose them," Matthews said. "But I think everybody's good in this league and I approach every game the same. I go in thinking we can win every game."
Matthews said that despite the Cardinals' woes this season - the Cardinals are now 3-11 in the GLIAC and 8-15 overall - his team remains both confident and excited.
"The guys still like coming to practice," he said. "Not a lot of guys in this situation can say that. We're getting better every day."
He added that finishing the season with the wins certainly would not hurt.
"(Winning those games) would reinforce to them that they are a good team," he said. "They already think they're a good team, though. I don't have to use my energy to get them to play hard."