Brown's Buzzer-Beater Lifts Bulldogs To GLIAC Road Win

Big Rapids, Mich. - A three-pointer from senior guard Kenny Brown with less than one second remaining lifted the Ferris State University men's basketball team to a 50-47 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) road win at Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Jan. 26) evening in University Center, Mich.

The Bulldogs grabbed a two-point lead with 38 seconds to play on a layup by sophomore guard Dietrich Lever, but SVSU answered on a Damon Bozeman layup with 21 seconds to play to tie up the game.  FSU ran the clock down to under five seconds before Brown found an opening and nailed a trey from the top of the circle with six-tenths of a second left to hand FSU its second consecutive victory.

Brown, who forced double overtime with a baseline jumper at the end of the first extra session in Thursday's exciting 72-68 home win over league leader Wayne State, hit his second buzzer-beater in as many contests and finished with a game-high 15 points in the victory.

Ferris State led 23-21 at halftime and outscored SVSU 27-26 over the final 20 minutes improving to 10-8 overall and 9-5 in the GLIAC.

In addition to Brown's 15 points, the Bulldogs also had two other players reach double-digits with sophomore guard Drew Lehman scoring 13 points and senior forward Daniel Sutherlin adding 12 points.

Ferris State shot only 38.5% for the night and was three-of-11 (27.3%) from three-point range, which included Brown's game-winning basket.  The Bulldogs did sink seven-of-nine (77.8%) free throws.

Saginaw Valley State kept the game close much of the way behind a team-high 14 points from senior guard Chris Webb, but he was the lone SVSU player to reach double-digits in the game.

Ferris State led by as many as 10 points in the second half with 9:23 to go before the Cardinals finally tied it back up on a layup from Webb with just under two minutes to play. Neither team was able to score from there until Lever's go-ahead basket in the final 40 seconds.

Overall, the contest featured six lead changes and the game was tied seven times.

The Bulldogs held SVSU to 40% shooting and a four-of-14 (28.6%) effort behind the three-point line.  The Cardinals also struggled at the free throw stripe as they made only three-of-nine (33.3%) tries.  Saginaw Valley State did make 11-of-21 (52.4%) field goals in the final half after shooting only 31% in the initial frame.

The Bulldogs owned a four-point edge in second chance scoring as they grabbed 11 offensive boards in the game en route to a 36-30 rebounding advantage.  Both teams finished with 13 turnovers with the Bulldogs totaling only three miscues in the final half and holding a 13-7 edge in points off turnovers.

Along with the three players in double-digits, the Bulldogs also received six points from Lever and four points off the bench from freshman guard Jibreel Jackson.  His production resulted in FSU's only points from the reserves as the Cardinals maintained a 16-4 margin in bench production and FSU had only five players score in the game.

The Bulldogs did received three blocked shots and six rebounds from redshirt freshman center Jared Stolicker and sophomore forward Trent Messer chipped in with a game-high nine rebounds and added two steals along with a block.

The win was Ferris State's 16th in the last 24 series' encounters and the Bulldogs fifth in the last six meetings over the last three years.  FSU also bounced back from a 20-point setback to SVSU inside O'Neill Arena last season.

The road triumph was also only Ferris State's second victory away from Jim Wink Arena this campaign where FSU has won seven consecutive home games and holds a 8-2 overall mark in 2012-13.  The Bulldogs had dropped six-straight road tilts prior to the win.

With the win, the Bulldogs won their 10th game of the season and it marks the 11th consecutive year in which FSU has won at least 10 games under head coach Bill Sall after the program had failed to do so in the four years prior to his arrival in 2002.

Ferris State will return home to the friendly confines of Wink Arena next Saturday, Feb. 2, as the Bulldogs entertain archrival Grand Valley State with tipoff set for 1 p.m. (ET) in Big Rapids.  Tickets can be purchased in advance thru the FSU Athletics Ticket Office or online at StarTickets.com.