Dec. 14, 2009

Box Score

GOSHEN, Ind. - After moving up to #19 in the latest NAIA Poll, the DU men's team fell to MCC foe Goshen College 77-66 on Monday night in Indiana. The loss sends Davenport to an overall record of 10-3 as they will play at Marian this weekend.

Playing their first of three games this week in the state of Indiana, the Panthers got off to the wrong start. A strong second half by the Maple Leafs as they outscored DU by 17, led to the third loss of the year for Davenport.

A low scoring start to the game never saw the lead get above four from either team as the Panthers held that slim margin twice on baskets from Lorenzo Ecford (Chicago, Ill.).

Leading 20-19 with 8:28 to play, the Panthers used an 8-3 run fueled by four points each from Nathan Cox (Flushing, Mich.) and James Nelson (New Haven, Mich.). The run gave them their largest lead of the half of 6 points (33-27) which they would take with them into the break.

The opening minutes of the second half saw DU increase their lead to as many 9 at 43-34 on a pair of free-throws by Ecford, but it would quickly turn in favor of the host Maple Leafs after that.

Goshen used an 11-2 run over the next 4:32 to tie the game at 45 and after a DU basket gave them the lead again, the Maple Leafs then scored 11 of the next 17 points to take the lead for good at 56-53 with 5:43 remaining.

Davenport did get within one on a few different occasions, but could not put together a good defensive stop while executing on the offensive end as Goshen continued to pull away for the 11-point win.

Lorenzo Ecford and Nathan Cox each posted game high's with 18 points as Ecford pulled down 9 rebounds and Cox 7.

Goshen won the turnover margin of 23-20 but the biggest difference came at the foul line where Goshen made 23 of 34 while DU knocked down only 8 of 12.

Davenport will return to the court on Friday when they take on Brescia University at the Marian University Holiday Tournament. The game as well as the one on Saturday will be aired live on the DAN.