Feb. 20, 2010

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A four point halftime lead quickly turned into a deficit and DU was unable to catch up as they fell 77-70 to #11 Cornerstone on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers lost their chance at their first WHAC title in school history as they fall to 22-8 (11-3 WHAC) on the year.

DU celebrated senior day just before the tip and got an immediate boost from one of the two honorees as Mario Scott (Grand Rapids, Mich.) put DU up with two free throws and eventually helped the Panthers push the lead to as many as six in the first 10 minutes.

A big factor in the early going was the absence of Lorenzo Ecford (Chicago, Ill.) who picked up two fouls in the first 25 seconds and he sat for the remainder of the opening half.

Cornerstone battled back and used a 10-3 run over a span of 4:12 to take only their second lead of the game at 23-22. The two teams then traded baskets for the next four minutes until DU's David Thompson (Grandville, Mich.) hit a three from the wing and the Panthers finished the half up 39-35.

The first few possessions of the second half became huge for the visiting Eagles as they erased the lead and scored 15 of the first 23 points to push the margin to six (53-47). The lead was one they would never relinquish as it continued to grow.

Trailing by nine (60-51), DU came out of a timeout and got five straight points from Max Prendergast (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and David Thompson to pull within four but it was not enough as they failed to put a defensive stop with a good offensive possession and CU held on for the conference championship win.

The statistics were almost identical across the board for the top two teams in the WHAC but the difference came at the foul line where the Golden Eagle made 23 while the Panthers made only 10.

WHAC #2 Davenport will now host at least through the semifinals of the WHAC Tourney that starts Wednesday, February 24 when they host #7 seed Madonna University. Game time has not been announced yet.