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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - An 11-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome for the #14 ranked Davenport men's basketball team as they fell on the road to rival Cornerstone 84-76.  The Golden Eagles, ranked #6 in the latest NAIA poll, held off a late rally to send DU to its third conference loss of the season.

Senior Nathan Cox (Flushing, Mich.) and junior James Nelson (New Haven, Mich.) led Davenport with 18 points each, but the shooting for the Panthers was a dismal sight all night long as the visitors hit just 38.9% of their shots compared to 51.9% from the host team. Junior Kale Waaso (South Haven, Mich.) was the only other DU player to find double-digits in the scoring column.

In a back and forth opening half that saw 13 lead changes, Davenport got a big boost off the bench from Kale Waaso (South Haven, Mich.) whose three pointer at the15:52 mark gave the Panthers a 9-7 lead.  CU then used an 11-3 run over the next 4:20 to take control with a 6-point margin at 18-12.

The Panthers continued to fight back playing in front of a hostile crowd and held a one-point lead after a layup from junior James Humphrey (Fort Wayne, Ind.) with 7:41 to play.  Unfortunately, that would be the final lead of the game for DU as the Golden Eagles closed the first half by scoring 22 of the final 32 points to lead by 11 (45-34) heading into the locker room.

The opening three possessions of the second half saw DU cut the lead to just five after four straight points from Nathan Cox (Flushing, Mich.) and a fast-break layup from James Nelson (New Haven, Mich.). Again though it would be Cornerstone remaining composed and they quickly upped the lead back to double-digits and led  by as many as 13 with 14:02 to play.

That is when Davenport started clawing its way back into the game and over a span of 4:22 midway through the half, used a 12-2 run to get within just a single basket at 62-60. After some traded baskets each way and a layup from Kale Waaso (South Haven, Mich.) made the score 64-63 in favor of CU,  the host Eagles got a huge three pointer from freshman Wes Hudson to put some space between the teams and DU would not get any closer than two for the remainder of the game.

Davenport finished the night shooting just 38.9% from the field and a dismal 61% (13/21) from the foul line.  Many of the misses from the charity stripe came during the comeback effort and made it more difficult to complete. Cox and Nelson also led DU with 7 rebounds a piece as well as 3 assists.

#14 Davenport remains on the road Saturday when they travel to Dearborn to take on UM-Dearborn. Tip-off is set for 3:00pm and Gene Halbert will have the call live on the DAN starting at 2:40pm.