Box Score GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Kevin Rich scored a career-high 23 points and Dominez Burnett finished right behind him with 21 as the ninth-ranked Davenport men's basketball team held off a Northwestern Ohio rally to win the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal 73-64 Saturday afternoon. The Panthers will travel down the Beltline Monday to face crosstown rival Cornerstone for the WHAC Tournament title Monday at 7:30 p.m. With the top two teams playing in the championship game, Davenport has secured the league's second automatic bid to the NAIA Division II Tournament.
 
The Golden Eagles, who clinched the first automatic berth to nationals by winning the regular-season title, held off an intense Madonna basketball team to win their semifinal round 90-76 and earn a berth to the conference championship game.
 
Although the Racers (22-8) won the rebounding department 36-35, Burnett led the effort for Davenport by going to the glass eight times. He also added five steals to the Panthers 14.
 
As a team, Davenport combined for a 43.6 shooting percentage (24-for-55) while taking advantage of the free throw line, going 20-for-24. The Racers, meanwhile shot 38.5 percent (10-for-26) from the field in the opening half but bounced back to shoot 50 percent (17-for-34) in the latter period, finishing with a 45 percentile.
 
Northwestern Ohio's only lead in the game was right from the opening tip, but the lead quickly disappeared when a Braima Hai-Burnett alley-oop tied the game. Davenport took the lead with the traditional 3-point play by Rich and added two more on Burnett's jumper.
 
The Panthers (27-5) started on roll as they jumped out to a 16-point lead after ten minutes of play. Rich had the hot hand for the Panthers in the first half, scoring 17 of his 23 points and going 6-for-9 from the field. Davenport shot 55.2 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from behind the arc in the opening period.
 
After leading by 24 with 17:08 left in the second, the Racers began a rally to bring the score to within three (60-57) with 3:57 left. DeArmond Davis had a big sequence of plays with less than four minutes to play, scoring back-to-back to buckets sandwiched between a block that now makes him the all-time leader in Davenport history, to give the Panthers a seven point lead. Davenport was able to hang on to beat Northwestern Ohio 73-64.
 
Men's Basketball Contact: Aaron Sagraves | 616-554-5045 | asagraves@davenport.edu
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