The Malone University men's basketball team lost a 73-54 decision at home against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent Saginaw Valley State University (MI) in Malone's Osborne Hall on Friday night.

With the loss, the Pioneers dropped to 3-8 overall on the season and to 1-4 in the GLIAC while the Cardinals improved to 8-2 overall and a still-perfect 5-0 in GLIAC play.

The game was an extremely tight one for most of the first half with the score tied for a sixth time at 20-20 with 3:16 left in the period.  At that point, neither team had led by more than three points.  But during the final few minutes of the half, the visitors went on an 11-4 run to take a 31-24 lead at the intermission.

Early in the second half, the Cardinals opened up a 13-point, 37-24 lead but the Pioneers dug deep to go on an 11-1 run of their own to get back in the contest, trailing just 38-35 with 13:06 left in the game. SVSU was only up by eight, at 54-46 with 7:25 remaining, before slowly pulling away down the stretch to post the 19-point, 73-54 victory.

The Pioneers struggled from three-point range hitting three of 20 attempts although the visitors only hit two more, going five-for-17.  Another key in the contest was the strong edge held by SVSU at the free throw line as the Cardinals netted 20 of 27 to Malone's seven of 13.

For Malone, three players hit double digits in scoring paced by center Brian Stone and guard Ben Haraway who tossed in 13 points each.  Forward Neil Gingerich also tallied 10+ points with 12 as he was six of nine from the floor.  Forward Gus Simmers pulled down a team-best five rebounds for the team while guard Jason Miller dished out three assists.

For SVSU, Garrett Hall led the way with a game-high 24 points while Damon Bozeman followed with 21. Bozeman and C.J. Turnage grabbed a team-best seven rebounds for the Cardinals.

Malone will next compete against Hillsdale College (MI) (6-3, 4-1 GLIAC) on Sunday in a 3:00 p.m. contest.  Live stats will be available.