POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The Davenport men's basketball appeared in the quarterfinals of the NAIA tournament for the second consecutive season, as they took on the defending National Champions and number one overall seed, Indiana Wesleyan. The Panthers were able to battle back in the game to defeat the Wildcats, 79-75, to make their second appearance in NAIA DII National Championship Semifinals. Davenport will face Dakota Wesleyan on Monday night at 7 p.m. EDT in the semifinals of the national tournament in Point Lookout, Mo.

Davenport is making their second appearance in the semifinals of the national tournament in program history, with the first appearance coming in 2012. The men's basketball team is also the second team Davenport this year to make it to the national semifinals after the men's soccer team made an appearance in the fall.
 
For the third straight night, Davenport had a different leading scorer as Nick Gamble led the team with 19 points to set a new career-high, while Kevin Rich chipped in with 18 points. The Davenport starters combined for 66 points in the game, while John McCloud chipped in with ten points off the bench.
 
After the Panthers took a 6-5 lead in the early going, Indiana Wesleyan was able to counter to take the lead, and after Davenport was able to tie the game a few times, the Wildcats were able to take their largest lead of the game with 9:44 left in the first half as they led, 27-19. The Panthers were able to cut the lead to one point twice in the first half, but the Wildcats led 41-38 at the end of the half.
 
To start the second half, Davenport was able to tie the game 43-43 with 18:38 left in the game after a three-pointer from Gamble, and both team started to jockey for position, as the game was tied seven times after Gamble's three. Davenport was not able to take the lead until 11:42 left in regulation, after McCloud hit a shot in the paint. After Indiana Wesleyan was able to take a 75-71 lead with 2:15 left in regulation, Davenport closed the game on an 8-0 run to defeat the Wildcats, 79-75.
 
Davenport is making their second appearance in the semifinals of the national tournament in program history, with the first appearance coming in 2012.
 
The Panthers will have one day off before they are back in action on Monday night against No. 5 Dakota Wesleyan in the NAIA DII National Championship Semifinals at 7 p.m. EDT from the Keeter Gymnasium in Point Lookout, Mo.
 
Post-Game Notes
This is the first time in program history that the Panthers have defeated a team ranked number one in the NAIA DII polls… Two of the last four teams in the tournament are in the WHAC after Cornerstone defeated St. Francis (Ind.) Friday afternoon… This is the second time all season that Davenport has allowed an opponent to shoot over 60 percent as the Wildcats shot 62.8 percent from the field, but the Panthers were able shot 57.7 percent from the field, which is their second highest shooting percentage on the season after they shot 58.0 percent against Purdue-North Central.
 
Men's Basketball Contact: David Gerhart | 616-554-5045 | dgerhart@davenport.edu
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