Nov. 28, 2009

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YPSILANTI, Mich. - A team-high 22 points from junior Nathan Cox was not enough to overcome 19 made free throws in the second half by host and NCAA Division I member Eastern Michigan University as the men's basketball team fell 76-66 to the Eagles inside the Convocation Center on Saturday.

Cox (Flushing, Mich.) was the only Panther to reach double digits in points and led DU with six rebounds.

EMU jumped out to an early lead but the two sides went back to even when James Nelson converted a fast break layup to put the Panthers on top 14-13 with 14:11 left in the opening half.

The two sides traded scores to remain tied, this time at 14-all. Back-to-back triples from Cox put the Panthers up by six with 12:31 left in the half.

After the Eagles took a one point lead, the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to claim their largest lead of the half at 29-21 with just over seven minutes left in the half.

EMU pulled to within three late in the half but a pair of charity tosses from Cox pushed DU back in front by five heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break the Panthers held onto their lead - going up by as many as seven - for the first 17:53 of the half. At the 2:07 mark of the closing half, EMU's Carlos Medlock then hit a three and converted a pair of free throws on back to back possessions to give the Eagles their first lead since 11:12 of the opening half.

The points put the Eagles on top for good as EMU closed the game on a 16-0 run, with 11 of those points coming from the free throw line as the home team converted 19 of their 28 chances at the charity stripe compared to the Panthers 9-for-11 shooting at the line.

All together, Davenport led for over 34 of the game's 40 minutes but the late surge was too much to overcome as DU could not muster a point for the final 2:31 of play.

Aside from Cox's 26 points, DU got at least four points from six other players as Mario Scott (Grand Rapids, Mich.) posted 8 points, 3 assists and 2 steals.

The Panthers will return to action on Tuesday, December 1 when they travel to East-West University in Chicago for a 7:30 PM CT game with the Phantoms. Davenport will then host three straight games beginning with Lindsey Wilson on Saturday, December 5 at 3:00 PM.