UNIVERSITY CENTER – The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team gave up a big halftime lead before getting into a dogfight with Saginaw Valley State down the stretch on Thursday night.

In the end, the Cardinals sank a 3-point shot with 4 seconds left while the Wildcats missed one at the buzzer as SVSU escaped Northern’s upset bid with a 67-66 victory on its home court.

The Cardinals remain the No. 1 team in the GLIAC at 20-4 overall and 16-2 in league games, while Northern remained mired near the bottom with the 15th best record of 16 teams at 6-16 overall and 4-14 in the GLIAC.

NMU senior forward Donnell Cegers led all scorers with 24 points as he also pulled down five rebounds. Freshman guard Naba Echols added 15 points and senior guard Terry Nash had 14 with a team-high six rebounds.

Echols also didn’t commit a turnover while playing all 40 minutes.

C.J. Turnage paced SVSU with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Garrett Hall had 14 points and Vincent Adams 13.