GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – For the fourth time in five years, the Davenport men's basketball team has captured the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) regular season title. The No. 1 Panthers won the conference outright on Wednesday night with a thrilling 79-72 decision over Concordia (Mich.) at the DU Student Center. It was not an easy night for the Panthers by any stretch as the Cardinals led for 26:18 of the contest. Davenport (26-3, 20-1) dug deep in the closing minutes and set a school record with their 13th straight win, breaking the record set in the 2011-12 season. DU led for just 5:36 and the game was tied for 8:06.

"Winning four titles in five years is hard to put into words," said head coach Burt Paddock. "When I got here we were a new program and looking to someday compete for championships. I'm grateful for the guys that trusted me and the coaching staff and thank them for their commitment. Our players have a belief in what we are trying to teach them and that was evident tonight against a team that quite frankly outplayed us for most of the game. I give Concordia a ton of credit and they could make some noise in the upcoming WHAC tournament. I can get frustrated at times with this group, but I'm never in doubt with this team's abilities. Tonight's game is something we can draw from as the games continue to get more difficult from here."

Davenport might have been looking ahead to Saturday's showdown against rival No. 9 Cornerstone who won their ninth straight on Wednesday. The Cardinals quickly got their attention and took a 7-3 lead in the game's first few minutes. The Panthers and Cardinals were tied at 9-9 with 14:14 left in the first half and then Concordia went on a 10-2 run to build a 19-11 lead after a Connor Phee three-point play. DU battled back to regain the lead at 25-24 with 5:46 left after an Andia Marsh basket. There were a total of nine ties in the opening 20 minutes and Concordia took a 39-36 lead into the locker room.

The Cardinals built their biggest lead of the game early in the second half at 49-38 after a Phee basket. Phee started the game by making his first eight shots. The double-digit lead began to disappear for CU as senior Dominez Burnett began to heat up. Burnett canned back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to 55-51 with 14:35 left to play. The Panthers tied the game at 57-57 with 11:01 left after a pair of free throws from Burnett. Concordia led 68-65 after a Joe Remstad desperation 28-footer went in as the shot clock expired. Burnett made two at the line at the 4:28 mark and then nailed a corner three-pointer to give DU a 70-68 lead with 3:36 to go. The Panthers outscored the Cardinals 9-4 from that point thanks to the late game heroics of senior Wayne Bradford. He scored the final nine points for DU including a pair of three's late in the shot clock. His triple with 34 seconds left gave Davenport a 79-72 lead and sealed the victory.

"At this time of the year, we say that great teams are led by their seniors and guys who have been around for a while," commented Paddock. "Tonight was a typical night for us with our leadership coming through especially down the stretch. Dominez hit some big shots but I'm more proud of the loose balls, steals and rebounding. Wayne ended up scoring a majority of our points in the last few minutes and he made shots when we needed them the most."

Davenport limited their turnovers to just seven and scored 15 points off turnovers. The team also had seven blocks including three from John McCloud. He had an unsung big night especially in the second half with hustle plays. He finished with nine points and six rebounds (five offensive). Burnett scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. He has now scored 30 or more eight times this season and 16 times in his career. Bradford scored 16 points to go with four rebounds and three assists. Nick Gamble contributed nine points, five assists and two steals in 30 minutes. Davenport shot 45.6 percent (26-of-57) while the Cardinals were 45 percent (27-of-60) but just 37.5 percent in the second half and 6-of-19 inside the arc.