DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball squad (2-9 overall, 2-6 GLIAC) fell 77-69 at home Saturday afternoon to Saginaw Valley State University (10-3 overall, 7-1 GLIAC) in the Warriors final regular-season contest against GLIAC North Division teams.

HOW IT HAPPENED
WSU scored eight of the game's first 10 points in the first two minutes of the contest with sophomore Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech) and junior Michael Lewis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) each making a pair of shots.

Sophomore Ronald Booth (Detroit, Mich. / Consortium) connects on an off-balance shot clock beating triple just over 90 seconds later to increase the Warrior lead back to six (11-5).

Wayne State advantage was still eight (21-13) after two foul shots by Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) at the 12:05 mark.

A 7-1 run by the Cardinals cut the WSU margin to two (22-20), before a lay-up by Lewis, which would be Wayne State's last made field goal for over seven minutes.  SVSU went on a 10-2 spurt before another bucket by Lewis with just over two minutes left in the first half.

Saginaw Valley State tallied five of the final nine points before intermission to lead 35-32 at halftime.  WSU shot 36 percent (10-of-28) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, compared to 45 percent (13-of-29) for the Cardinals.  The Warriors were 1-of-3 from behind the arc, while SVSU was 4-of-9 from three-point range.  Wayne State was 11-of-16 (69 percent) from the charity stripe, while Saginaw Valley State was 5-of-9 on free throws.

The Cardinals scored the first five points of the second half to push its lead to eight (40-32), prior to a hoop by Key off a feed from Moore.  After an SVSU field goal, Wayne State went on a 10-3 run over the next four minutes to pull within one (45-44) with 13:10 remaining.  Moore had four points during the spurt, while Lewis, junior Joel Ndondo (Ajax, Ont.) and senior Darius Stevens (Merrillville, Ind. / La Lumiere) each connected from the floor.

WSU had a chance to knot the game at 46 after SVSU's C.J. Turnage split a pair from the foul line, but Booth forced a jumper and the Cardinals rattled off the next six points prior to a Lewis free throw.  The Warriors went over 4:30 without making a field goal as Saginaw Valley State turned a one-point lead (45-44) into a 10-point advantage (56-46) with 8:54 remaining.

Wayne State responded with an 11-3 run keyed by five points from Booth, along with two points each from Moore, junior Clark Bishop (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) and Key to cut its deficit to two (59-57) with just over six minutes remaining.  WSU was within one again (60-59) after Booth made a pair from the charity stripe, but the Cardinals answered with a 7-0 run to lead 67-59 with just over a minute remaining.

Saginaw Valley State went 10-of-10 from the foul line in the final 54 seconds to claim the 77-69 victory.

WSU LEADERS
Lewis led four Warriors in double figures with a team-high 18 points.  Booth contributed 16 points along with team-best marks of five assists and three steals.  Key added 13 points, while Moore chipped in with 12 points, three blocks, three assists and two steals.  Stevens grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

TEAM STATS RECAP
WSU shot 36 percent from the floor (22-of-61), but just 20 percent (2-of-10) from three-point range.  Meanwhile, Saginaw Valley State connected for 46 percent (23-of-50) from the field, including 33 percent (4-of-12) from behind the arc.  In a game that featured 60 fouls, the Warriors shot 72 percent (23-of-32) from the foul line with the Cardinals making 68 percent (27-of-40) of their free throw attempts.  SVSU held a 43-38 edge in rebounding, but just edged WSU in both points in the paint (38-36) and second-chance points (12-10).

LEADING THE OPPOSITION
Damon Bozeman tallied a game-high 22 points which included 14-of-15 from the foul line.  Garrett Hall recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-best 11 rebounds, while Turnage added 11 points.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will conclude its three-game homestand with a 7:30 p.m. start on Thursday against Tiffin.  The contest against the Dragons will be the first of 14 consecutive matches versus GLIAC South Division opponents.