Box Score  | Highlights | Photo Gallery
 
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Dominez Burnett tallied a season-high 27 points and JaVontae Ford recorded the first double-double of the season, but the sixth-ranked Davenport men's basketball team couldn't beat No. 25 Madonna's 62 shooting percentage as the Crusaders handed the Panthers their first Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference loss 82-69 Wednesday.
 
After sitting out last Saturday at Lawrence Tech, Ford picked up where he left off by scoring 15 points while collecting 11 boards to complete the double-double. Thomas Drew added nine points while DeArmond Davis and Dawid Czerniawski combined for 13 points on the evening. The ball didn't seem to want to go into the bucket for the Panthers tonight as they shot a season-low 35 percent from the floor.
 
Burnett started the game off for the Panthers by scoring five points to put them ahead 5-2 with 15:50 left in the first half, but a 16-4 run put the Crusaders in the lead 18-9 at the 11:33 mark.
 
Davenport did find itself back into rhythm when Burnett's layup followed by Drew's back-to-back 3-pointers cut the Crusaders lead to 18-17 with 9:15 left. The Crusaders did reverse that momentum immediately and used a 13-4 run to build a 10-point lead.
 
The Panthers slowly crawled back up from the hole and headed into the locker room trailing 40-38. Burnett manufactured 18 points in the opening half to pace the Panthers. The Panthers though couldn't find a way to stop Crusader Bobby Naubert, who went 7-for-8 from the field and 3-for-3 on the charity stripe for 18 points.
 
After Davis made a layup, Ford made a big 3-pointer from the corner pocket to cut the Crusaders lead to 48-47 with 15:45 in the second half. It was the closest deficit the Panthers ever got to as the Crusaders blew the game up wide open with a 23-0 run in the span of 5:31 right after.
 
The Panthers did have a 10-0 run to make it 79-66 Crusaders with 1:31 left, but it wasn't enough to get out of the jam.
 
Davenport will finish 2012 in non-conference play starting Monday at home against Kuyper. Opening tip is at 7 p.m.
 
Post-Game Quotes
 
Head coach Burt Paddock
 
On the loss – “I thought (Madonna) played tremendous. Noel Emenhiser is a great coach. He does a really great job. They came in here and made quality shots. I thought we contested a lot of them. I mean they shot 62 percent for the game. We gave up some easy baskets, but for the most part they made some tough ones. When they made them they got the momentum and I didn't think our guys dealt with very well with chaos. Things weren't going our way and we have not had that happen very many times this year.”
 
On moving forward – “Hopefully we learned from our mistakes. We'll watch a lot of film on this and continue to get better. It's one of 30 games and as much as it hurts to lose on your home court, something else we haven't done much of. Hut hopefully it will be a great learning experience for us and make us better for the rest of the season.
 
Redshirt Junior Forward JaVontae Ford
 
On tonight's experience – “We didn't focus. We didn't stick to our game plan that we had today. The coaches prepared us very well but they are not the ones playing, the players are.”
 
On what happened tonight – “The ball wasn't falling for us. We were around the rim, we were attacking, we were getting open shots, shots that we usually make, and it wasn't falling in. We didn't do a great job adjusting to what was going on.”
 
Post-Game Notes
 
Davenport drops to 10-2 overall, 6-1 in the WHAC…Davenport's win streak against Madonna is snapped at five…Madonna now leads the all-time series 11-8…The last time an opponent shot over 50 percent was against UM-Dearborn in Grand Rapids last season…Dominez Burnett, who scored a season-high 27 points, becomes the first player since James Nelson last season to score more than 25 points in a contest…JaVontae Ford become the first Panther to record a double-double this season, scoring 15 points while collecting 11 rebounds.
 
Follow Davenport Athletics on: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | You Tube
Follow Davenport Men's Basketball on: FACEBOOK