GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Davenport men's basketball team got a big payback win at Aquinas on Saturday afternoon by the final score of 65-51. The Saints were the last team to beat the Panthers back on Jan. 2 and since then Davenport has won 12 straight games while holding the No. 1 ranking in NAIA Division II. The Panthers played stout defense and avoided letting the Saints get to the free throw line unlike the first meeting. Back on Jan. 2, Aquinas went 12-of-16 from the line and this time went 3-of-5. They also hit seven three-pointers in the first meeting but had just two on 15 attempts on Saturday. The defense did great work on Jake Bullock, the Saints leading scorer, who went 4-of-16 from the floor including 0-of-7 from behind the arc.

The Panthers stormed out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes as Nick Gamble scored the first four points followed by a Kevin Rich triple for a 7-0 lead. The Saints responded and took a 21-19 lead with 6:35 left in the half after a baseline jumper by Rashaud Orange. The storyline in the first half was senior Dominez Burnett picking up three fouls and scoring just two points. His teammates picked him up and built a lead late in the half. DU went ahead 32-26 after being tied 24-24 with 4:15 left in the half. Wes Webbert canned a triple to break the tie followed by a deuce from Gamble. After a Loren Johnson jumper for Aquinas it was Jason Jordan hitting a long range bomb from the wing. DU held a 36-31 lead at the break and shot 46.2 percent (12-of-26).

Burnett helped Davenport build a double-digit lead in the second half as made three straight three's to extend the lead to 57-41 with 10:22 to go. Burnett scored 15 second-half points but picked up his fourth foul with 9:28 remaining. It proved to be no big deal as the Panthers continued to lead by double-digits for the rest of the game.

Aquinas shot 46 percent (23-of-50) from the floor for the game. Zac VanBeek led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Burnett finished 5-of-10 (3-of-6 3FG's) with a team-high 17 points in just 24 minutes. Gamble had another great under-the-radar performance with 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Wayne Bradford scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting with three rebounds. DU outrebounded Aquinas, 35-26, and allowed just five offensive rebounds and zero second-chance points.