Box Score Box Score
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The Davenport Men's Basketball team's run in the National Tournament ended on Saturday with a 61-57 loss to defending Champions Saint Francis (Ind.). The Panthers got out to an early lead and led for most of the game but couldn't hang on as the tournament experience of the cougars helped them chip away at the Davenport lead. The Panthers finish the season with a school record in wins (29), conference wins (13), and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
Davenport and St. Francis exchanged leads early on before Davenport took a three point lead, 7-4, on a three by James Humphrey (Fort Wayne, Ind.) just over four minutes into the game. With the Panthers holding a 12-11 lead with 11:12 remaining, Davenport scored the next eleven points over a four minute span to increase their lead to 23-11.
St. Francis battled back and steadily chipped away at the Davenport lead to cut it to 27-24 with 3:13 remaining in the half. Davenport took a 30-26 lead into halftime.
The second half started with both teams trading baskets for the first several minutes with Davenport never able to extend its lead to more than six points and St. Francis coming to within one on a couple occasions. James Nelson (New Haven, Mich.) nailed a three with 13:13 remaining in the game to increase the lead to 8 but a 7-0 run by St. Francis cut the lead back to one two minutes later.
Davenport continued to hold a slim lead until a couple free throws by St. Francis tied the game at 52-52 with 5:55 left in the game. Thirty second later St. Francis took their first lead since 2-3 on a put back layup.
Neither team made much for the next few minutes until a Nathan Cox (Flushing, Mich.) made a pair of free throws to tie the game at 55-55 with 1:55 remaining. With 38 second left, Ethan Hussey of St. Francis made a three pointer to open up a 58-55 St. Francis lead.
Davenport responded with a quick layup and after St. Francis made one of two free throws Davenport had a chance to tie or take the lead with 14 second left but a three point attempt by James Nelson would come up short. St. Francis made two more free throws to seal the win.
James Nelson finished with a game high 20 points while James Humphrey and Kale Waaso (South Haven, Mich.) each finished with 11 points to lead the Panthers. Nathan Cox, who came into the game averaging 23 points and 5 rebounds in the National Tournament, was in foul trouble for most of the game and finished with 5 points and 7 rebounds.
After shooting over 80% from the free throw line in the two previous games, the Panthers shot 36.4% from the line against St. Francis. Saint Francis converted 17 of their 25 free throw attempts while Davenport converted 4 of their 11 attempts.
