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Printer-Friendly ModeCardinals split weekend trip
January 31, 2005 —
The Saginaw Valley State University men's basketball team finished an Upper Peninsula road trip 1-1 after a 66-54 loss to Northern Michigan Jan. 27.
The Cardinals have tried to find a home away from home this season. Playing away from the friendly confines of O'Neill Arena has been an all too familiar occurrence this season, as they have most recently played five of their last seven games on the road.
The 1-1 split win included a win at Michigan Tech on Thursday, Jan. 27. Saturday, however, the Cardinals dropped the game to Northern at the Berry Events Center in Marquette.
Saginaw Valley could not get the ball into the bucket against the Wildcats, shooting 33 percent from the field for the game. The Cardinals did not shoot well from behind the arc either, shooting 4-of-16 for the game. Coach Jamie Matthews was not pleased with the offensive performance of his team and wished they would have controlled the game a little bit better.
"We did not dominate the game like I wanted," he said. "We just did not shoot the ball well."
The Cardinals got off to a rocky start against the Wildcats, falling behind 11-4 in the first five minutes of the game. The Wildcats built their largest lead of the half at 35-24, which is how the score stayed going into the intermission.
The second half was not any kinder to the Cardinals, as their shooting woes continued as the Wildcats got better. For the game NMU shot 24-of-48 (50 percent) from the field and 5-of-12 from three-point range.
The Wildcats' Ricky Volcy led all scorers with 28 points while grabbing six boards and dishing out four assists. He came into the game averaging 19.2 points per game, good enough for third in the conference. Matthews knew that Volcy was going to be a difficult task to defend and Matthews was not happy with the way his defense handled him.
"We didn't do a good job on Volcy," he said. "We did not limit his touches like I wanted."
Senior Anthony Parker led the Cardinals with 13 points while also blocking two shots. Junior Ron McGrew added 11 points and six boards. Freshman Brandon Ball chipped in 10 points, five boards, three assists and two steals while playing the entire 40 minutes on the court.
Two days earlier the Cardinals played Michigan Tech, who came into the game ranked ninth in the Great Lakes Region poll with an overall record of 12-5. The Cardinals quieted the Huskies' roar with a 74-73 overtime victory.
Matthews was very pleased with his teams' performance and was happy to get a victory away from home.
"It was a terrific road win," he said. "We did a good job defensively and gave our team a chance to get the win."
Sophomore Sydney McDaniel carried the Cardinals on his shoulders, as he poured in a career-high 33 points, including all seven of the Cardinals overtime points on a helpless Huskies defense. Matthews was happy with the effort that he got out of his shooting guard.
"Sydney shot the ball well," he said. "He played well and made some good decisions."
The split left the Cardinals at 9-11 (4-7 GLIAC) with seven games to go.
The Cardinals are in action again on Wednesday, Feb. 2 when they host Northwood. Matthews anticipates a battle with the Timberwolves.
"They have very good shooters," he said. "We need to keep the ball off the low post so that they can not kick the ball out to the open men on the perimeter. We need good defensive tempo."
Matthews is also looking forward to returning home for a change. He hopes that the home-court advantage will aid his players against a tough Northwood team.
"I hope we have a good environment to play in," he said. "I know everyone has to go to class on Thursday but I hope we get a good crew on Wednesday night."