Jan. 6, 2010

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - James Nelson scored a career high 26 points to help Davenport move to 2-0 in WHAC play with a 71-49 win over Concordia in Ann Arbor. Davenport is now 13-5 on the year overall and will host UM Dearborn on Saturday at 1:00 PM.

Playing the Cardinals for the second time in a row to open league action, DU used a stifling defense and a new career high from sophomore James Nelson (New Haven, Mich.) to down the host team 71-49.

Davenport got on the board first with a jumper from Mario Scott (Grand Rapids, Mich.) as they opened the game with 12 of the first 17 points to lead 12-5.

The Cardinals came back with a run of their own to tie the game at 17, but DU struck right back with a long ball from Nelson and they would never let the lead from their hands for the remainder of the game.

DU closed the first half on a 19-5 run after CUAA tied the score to give Davenport a 36-22 lead at the break. The Panthers collected points from six different players during the spurt.

DU's defense held the host team to just 30% shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

The lead would hover around 10-12 points for the first 8:00 of the second half, but DU started to pull away when they scored eight straight points from the 12:01 mark to the 9:53 mark to push their lead to 19 points.

Concordia countered with a run of their own as they scored 13 of the next 17 points to trail by only 10, but the Panthers were too touch behind the play of Nelson and Nathan Cox (Flushing, Mich.) who was making his first appearance in three weeks.

DU continued its stellar defense in the closing half as they limited CUAA to just 17 made field goals for the entire game finishing a dismal 32% (17/52) from the floor.

The Panthers did not scorch the floor shooting, but used a balanced attack that saw seven different players record at least four points led by Nelson's 26. Cox finished with 11 points and Lorenzo Ecford (Chicago, Ill.) pulled down a team high 12 rebounds on the night.

Mario Scott played a well-rounded game finishing with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals.

Davenport will now bring their 2-0 WHAC mark and 13-5 overall record back to the Student Center on Saturday as they host UM Dearborn at 1:00 PM.

Post Game Notes

The win over Concordia lifts DU to their fourth straight win over the Cardinals...Davenport is now 36-19 all-time when they make more free-throws than their opponent (16-11 tonight)...Under Coach Burt Paddock, the Panthers are now 19-11 against teams from the state of Michigan...DU has never lost a game under Paddock when holding their opponent to less than 60 points (16-0)