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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Despite connecting on just 22 of their 40 foul shots on the day, the Davenport men's basketball team completed a season sweep of their cross-town rival with a 93-91 win in double-overtime on Saturday in the conference tournament semifinals. It was the second time in the last three seasons the two schools have gone to a second extra period with DU coming out on top on both occasions. Davenport, now 27-5 on the year, moves on to their second straight Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) championship game on Tuesday when they will host Madonna at 7:30 pm.

Three Davenport players finished in double-figures in what turned out to be another thriller between the two Grand Rapids-area schools as Dominez Burnett led the way with 18 points. JaVontae Ford connected on 7-9 free-throws and had a big 3-pointer in the second overtime to match Burnett in points while Ryan Dame posted 11 points and six rebounds in the victory.

Cornerstone, winners of their last six entering the contest and fighting for their NAIA Tournament lives, came out flying in the opening minutes taking a 9-3 lead when Wes Hudson scored two of his game high 20 points. Even though the Panthers fought back quickly, the lead stayed at six halfway through the opening 20 minutes but DU finally go over the hump and took their first lead of the game at 26-25 when Dawid Czerniawski hit a short jumper in the lane and the Panthers increased their lead to five at the break, 35-30.

The early parts of the second half were a sign of things to come as each team traded blows but just as if it looked DU would run away with it when building a 43-36 lead, the Golden Eagles roared back to take a 46-45 lead with 13:19 to play. Neither team would hold a lead of more than five for the remainder of regulation while there were five ties and five lead changes. With DU up 65-63 with just under 25 seconds to play, CU called timeout and got a whistle and two free-throws from Ty Mason to tie it. The final possession of regulation saw DU run an alley-oop play to Dominez Burnett but he was unable to convert sending the game into overtime.

DU again held a late lead in the overtime period but Cornerstone scored with just under four seconds to play on a layup from Derek Kingshott and on the ensuing possession, a three-point attempt by Gabe VanderJagt came up just short as time expired sending the two teams to five more minutes of free basketball.

The Panthers came out on fire for the second extra period as they quickly built a 6-point lead on back to back three's from VanderJagt and JaVontae Ford. The lead would remain DU's for the remainder of the game as CU had one last gasp at winning it when Hudson's half-court shot at the buzzer went off the front iron giving DU the 93-91 win.

Neither team finished too well from the field as DU shot 43% (31-72) and CU 38% (28-73) while the Panthers held a 52-44 edge on the glass. The Golden Eagles took care of the basketball as they committed only 11 turnovers in 250 minutes of play and limited the nation's top-ranked team in terms of steals to just five.

Davenport advances to Tuesday night's championship game where they will play the No. 2 seeded Madonna Crusaders who have defeated DU in both meetings this season. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Student Center.

Post-Game Notes

Davenport has now won eight of the last 11 meetings against Cornerstone including two in 2OT (DU won 98-95 in 2010-11)…The Panthers are 6-2 under Burt Paddock in games going into either OT or 2OT…The 184 combined points is the second most in Student Center history (only to the 193 scored by these two teams in 2011)…Despite going 22-40 from the line in the game, DU was 16-24 (67%) in the two extra periods

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