POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The Davenport men's basketball team narrowly made a comeback for the ages in the NAIA Semifinals on Monday. DU trailed 40-25 at halftime and then had the ball with 18 seconds left down two, but could not score in a 66-65 loss to No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan. The Wildcats and Panthers conclude the game with identical 32-5 records and IWU will advance to the national championship game against Crossroads League rival Saint Francis (Ind.) on Tuesday. The Cougars have defeated the Wildcats three times already this season.

Indiana Wesleyan once again had a great game plan in stopping senior two-time NAIA Player of the Year Dominez Burnett. In last season's win for Davenport in the NAIA Quarterfinals, he scored 10 points. Coming into tonight's game, Burnett was averaging 25.4 points and scored seven ending a streak of 70 straight games in double figures in his final game as a Panther. He finishes his career with 2,858 points and was awarded NAIA Player of the Year honors after the game.

The Panthers saw Burnett foul out with 1:58 remaining and despite that played a great game to keep themselves close in the end. Junior Kevin Rich concluded a good tournament with a team-high 21 points and eight rebounds. Junior Nick Gamble asserted himself offensively in the second half with 16 points after not scoring in the first 20 minutes. Gamble was 6-of-12 from the floor and had six rebounds. Junior John McCloud grabbed 10 boards (eight offensive) and added eight points. Burnett shot 3-of-9 including 1-of-5 behind the arc.

Davenport came out strong in the first five minutes and led 10-4 after a basket by Burnett. The Panthers led 12-6 when the critical stretch of the game happened next. Indiana Wesleyan went on a 15-0 run to lead 21-12 with 9:37 left in the half after a Jonny Marlin triple. The Wildcats led 26-20 with 5:50 left and then went on a 14-5 run to end the half as Bob Peters made a pair of free throws with one second left.

The Wildcats scored the first points of the second half to lead by 17, but then the Panthers began to slowly chip into that lead. Davenport got it below double digits at 46-38 after a Rich triple in the corner. Rich then connected again on the next possession to make it 48-41 and force a timeout by IWU.

The Wildcats led 55-51 after a driving layup by Rich with 6:42 left and then a very unfortunate flagrant foul was called against Rich as his elbow connected with the chin of Trevor Waite. The move did not appear deliberate but the officials went to the monitor and concluded that Waite would get two free throws and IWU would get the ball back. Waite made both free throws then Lane Mahurin was fouled and made both his free throws for a 59-51 lead.

Burnett scored his first points of the second half at the 5:41 mark to cut it to six. Senior Wayne Bradford made a wide-open triple to make it 60-56 with 4:56 to play and DU called a timeout. Gamble's driving layup with 2:46 left made it 62-60 forcing a timeout by IWU. Peters made his shot blocked on the next possession and then Burnett came down and drove towards the basket getting called for the charge and his fifth foul. It was the first time this season that he fouled out.

Mahurin's tip-in off a Jacob Johnson miss was a huge basket making it 64-60 with 1:13 remaining. Mahurin scored all of his 12 points in the second half. Gamble came right back with a bank shot with 59 seconds left to make it 64-62. Grant Evans then missed a triple and Rich grabbed the rebound as Davenport called their final timeout with 18 seconds to play. The Panthers worked a little clock and Bradford had a runner in the paint from about 12 feet which hit the front of the rim and was rebounded by Peters who raced upcourt and was fouled with two seconds to play. He calmly made both free throws and then Gamble hit a three as time expired for the 66-65 outcome.

Davenport held the Wildcats to 30.8 percent shooting in the second half to mount the comeback. The Panthers shot 39.1 percent for the game and 45.7 percent in the second half. The foul line was a huge advantage for IWU who went 18-of-24 compared to 8-of-10 for Davenport. Peters scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the first half and was 9-of-9 at the foul line. Marlin led his team with 11 rebounds from the point guard spot. He also had nine points, three assists and one turnover. Indiana Wesleyan now leads 2-1 in the all-time series.