Saginaw Valley State University takes on Delta College

In a historic first game in Men's Basketball Saginaw Valley State University would host the neighboring Junior College Delta College in a regular season match-up.   SVSU added Delta to its schedule after coming up a couple of games short on its 2012-2013 schedule.   The Sunday afternoon didn't start out quite on time after realizing that basketball officials had not been scheduled for this contest.   After some quick telephone calls 3 local veteran High School officials arrived and officiated the contest. 

Delta College arrived at the Ryder Center with 10 able bodies to take on the 5-3 Cardinals.   The SVSU team has plenty of depth this season carrying a 16 man roster.   The game started out quietly enough with both teams getting used to their own players moving up and down the court.   The first half was marred by numerous turnovers on both teams.   However the Cardinals went into the locker room with a 16 point lead at halftime. 

Both coaches Randy Baruth (SVSU) and Lonnie Griffin (Delta College) rotated their players into the contest giving many players some badly needed playing time.  Delta College made a couple of runs at the bigger NCAA Division II Cardinals.   But with more depth on the bench the Cardinals finished off the Pioneers early in the 2nd half of the game.   The 64-31 victory now sets the start of the GLIAC season for Saginaw Valley and Delta College now faces nationally ranked Mott C.C. in its next game.  

The game saw only one player in double figures with SVSU's Chris Webb scoring 11 points and Jojaun Graham lead Delta College with 7 points.   The game did draw a larger than normal crowd for a Sunday afternoon with about 250 fans in attendance.   It was unique to see the first ever match-up between a NCAA Division II school taking on a neighbor Junior College team.   The teams have faced each other before in exhibition basketball games but this one counted in the regular season standings.