Box Score | Paddock Interview | Cox Interview | Photo Gallery

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – It took two overtimes, 31 fouls, and a blazing 80% from the foul line, but the No. 11 ranked Davenport University Panthers pulled out a thrilling 98-95 double-overtime win over No. 3 Cornerstone on Saturday in the DU Student Center.  The Panthers finish the regular season by winning 15 of their last 16 games and conclude with an overall mark of 26-4 and 13-3 in conference play.

A three-pointer by Nathan Cox (Flushing, Mich.) with 2:08 to play in the second overtime gave DU a three point cushion that they never let up and Lonnie Fairfax (Detroit, Mich.) combined with Zach Yeagy (Alexandria, Ind.) to hit three of four foul shots in the final 41 seconds to ice the three point win over the Golden Eagles.

The last time these two teams played on January 19, it marked the only loss for Davenport since December 22.  Cornerstone used a late first half surge in that game and eventually won by eight (84-76).  Today it was the Panthers who finished the first half with an 8-0 run to take a 44-36 lead heading into the locker room.

The largest lead of the game up to that point was a 6-point cushion that DU held with three straight buckets to open the game.  Cornerstone clamped down on defense and took their first lead at 20-19 and held onto it until a Nathan Cox layup with 3:11 to play.

The Golden Eagles then came out on fire to open the second half as they erased the 8-point halftime margin in only 7:24 of game clock to take a one point lead at 54-53. The lead then went right back to DU on a jumper from Kale Waaso (South Haven, Mich.) and the Panthers extended the margin back to eight with 7:14 remaining.

The back and forth second half continued with Cornerstone using a 10-2 run over the next 3:53 to tie the score at 68.  With the score still tied at 72 with under ten seconds, Cornerstone got a good look from behind the arc but the ball rimmed in and out but Brian Pasciak grabbed the loose ball for CU and laid the ball in plus the foul with 5 seconds. After a missed free-throw, DU got the rebound and called timeout to set up one final play.

James Nelson (New Haven, Mich.) got ball in the backcourt and drove the length of the floor where he was fouled with 0.9 seconds to play.  The junior nailed both shots to send the game into overtime. 

The tight contest continued in the first overtime with neither team holding a lead of greater than three and Davenport held the ball with just under 10 seconds to play after a jumper from CU's Kelvin DeVries tied the score at 85.  The Panthers were unable to get a good look at the basket and the game would head into the second extra period.

An early three-pointer from Pasciak gave Cornerstone an 88-85 lead by DU came right back with a three-point play the hard way as Lonnie Fairfax converted the and one. The foul was whistled on Cornerstone's Caleb Simons and that became a huge turning point for the remainder of the game.

After trailing by one, 91-90, with 2:36 to play, Davenport got a tough inside play from Nathan Cox to grab their own one point lead. After a free-throw tied the game for CU, the very next possession saw the heroics of the senior Cox who swished a three-pointer to put DU up for good with 2:08 to play.  Foul shots down the stretch iced the win as Burt Paddock improves to 4-2 all-time against the Golden Eagles.

Three different Panthers posted double-digits led by Cox's 23 on 9-16 shooting from the field.  The senior finished with the team high despite playing a majority of the second half and all of both overtimes with four fouls. James Nelson finished with 22 points and a team high 8 rebounds and JaVontae Ford posted 18 points and 7 rebounds.

Davenport (26-4, 13-3 WHAC) will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming WHAC Tournament and will host the No. 7 seed UM-Dearborn on Thursday, February 24 at 7:30pm.