GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – If you are a fan of college basketball, it doesn't get much better than the rivalry between Davenport and Cornerstone. The teams entered Saturday ranked in the top 10 in NAIA Division II and were both in a three-way tie for first place in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. The Golden Eagles entered the game having won four of the last five meetings, but the Panthers played their most complete game of the season to pull out a 90-84 win at Mol Arena.
The No. 5 Panthers and No. 7 Golden Eagles delivered one blow after another for 40 minutes in a thrilling display of offensive efficiency. Davenport improved to 15-3 overall and 9-1 in the WHAC by shooting 54.5 percent for the game including 65.2 percent in the second half. That second half was the best shooting half of the season for Davenport at that most important time to date. Cornerstone shot 50 percent for the game including 46.4 percent in the second half. The Golden Eagles made 24-of-30 from the free throw line and the Panthers were 22-of-28 for 78.6 percent including 19-of-25 in the second half.
The game featured 11 ties and 12 lead changes and saw DU lead for 19:58, CU lead for 15:38 and a tie score for 4:24. In the first half no one led by more than one possession until 21-17 with 9:40 left when
Dominez Burnett hit a jumper for DU. There were nine ties in the first half and then with the score at 33-33, the Golden Eagles scored six straight points to lead with 52 seconds to go. Burnett then scored the final four points of the half as CU led 39-37.
Cornerstone led until the 14:32 mark when Davenport tied it again at 50-50 and then took the lead after a free throw by
Wayne Bradford. The Panthers went ahead 62-56 in the next four minutes capped off by a pair of Burnett free throws. Cornerstone cut the lead to 63-62 after a Kyle Steigenga lay-up with seven minutes left, but
Kevin Rich canned a triple followed by a four-point play by Burnett for a 70-62 lead with 6:04 to play. CU would come back and cut the lead to 74-72 after a pair of Michael McLaughlin free throws with 2:37 left.
Davenport got the lead back to 80-73 with 1:02 to play on a jumper by Burnett. McLaughlin converted a lay-up and
Braima Hai split at the line. Cory Cox nailed a three after an offensive rebound by Ben Lanning and it was 81-78 with 35 seconds left. Hai made a pair of clutch free throws for an 83-78 lead and then CU got three chances at the other end before Cox made a three and was fouled. He made the four-point play complete and it was 83-82 with 19 seconds to play. The Panthers called a timeout because they couldn't get the ball inbounds. After the timeout, Bradford streaked towards the other end and made a lay-up and was fouled. He made the free throw to increase the lead to 86-82. Travis Wells was fouled on the other end and made both his free throws with 14 seconds left. Rich knocked down two at the line for a four-point lead and after a missed shot by CU, Burnett was fouled and salted it away with a pair at the line for the 90-84 win.
Burnett scored 32 points as DU improved to 8-0 on the road. He went 10-of-18 from the floor (2-of-4 3 FG's) and 10-of-15 at the foul line. Burnett had seven assists, six rebounds and three steals in 37 minutes. Bradford snapped a streak of five games not in double figures with 19 points. He went 7-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-4 at the foul line. Bradford registered six rebounds and played a season-high 37 minutes. Rich scored 13 points including 10 in the second half. He sat for the final 11 minutes of the first half with two fouls. Hai contributed 12 points, three assists and three boards in 26 minutes off the bench. DU had just eight turnovers for the contest. Cornerstone was led by McLaughlin's 26 points which was 16 points above his season average. He had seven assists, five rebounds and four steals in 32 minutes. Steigenga scored 21 points including 17 in the second half going 6-of-9 from the floor and 9-of-12 at the line. Lanning grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds to go with 12 points and four blocked shots.
