GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Davenport hosted Grace Bible College for their third straight home game in the last week. The Panthers survived a late scare by the Tigers to earn their fourth straight victory of the season. Robbie Bramhill hit the eventual game-winning three with just 16 seconds on the clock to give DU a two-point lead. The Tigers had two different opportunities late, but couldn't get a great look at the basket on either possession. Davenport holds a four-game win streak into their California trip later on this week.
 
THE BASICS
Final Score: Davenport-80 | Grace Bible College-78
Location: Grand Rapids, Mich.
Records: Davenport 4-1 | Grace Bible 4-6
 
POINTS PER HALF
First Half: DU-43 | GB-31
Second Half: DU-37 | GB-47


 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Panthers got off to a quick 10-point lead against the Tigers. Orlando Little scored a layup with 15:20 in the first half to give DU their 10th point of the game. The Panthers quickly built upon their early success and led by 20 points with just under nine minutes played. Wes Webbert finished a layup, assisted by Nick Malonga, to bring the score to 25-5 in favor of Davenport. Following a tip in by John McCloud Jr. the Panthers led 35-16 with 6:07 left in the half. The Tigers went on a 12-point run of their own to cut the DU lead down to seven points with just over two minutes left in the half. Avery Hudson knocked down a couple three pointers to close out the half and give Davenport a 43-31 lead at halftime.
 
On the Panthers first offensive possession of the half Delano Smith went up strong against the Tigers in the paint, finished his layup and got fouled. Smith completed the old-fashioned three-point play and DU led 46-33. Grace Bible scored eight unanswered points to cut the lead down to five with 17:49 left in the game. The game was tied at 55-55 with 11:16 remaining after a layup by the Tigers. The lead bounced back and forth between the teams for a couple minutes. Grace Bible took a five-pint lead after a three point make with 3:01 left on the game clock. Webbert came down and hit a pull-up jump shot to cut the lead down to three points. During the Panthers next possession Cameron Burns hit a three ball to tie the game at 74-74. The Tigers scored on their next offensive possession to take a two-point lead and Hudson came down and responded with a three of his own to give DU a one-point lead. The Tigers scored a layup to take a 78-77 lead with 1:08 to play. Davenport had the ball with 27 seconds to play and Bramhill hit a three with only 16 seconds on the game clock to give Davenport a two-point lead, assisted by Braima Hai. The Tigers turned over the ball on their next offensive possession and Hai headed to the free throw line. He missed the front end of a one and one, the Tigers rebounded the basketball with five seconds left. Grace Bible had a shot from half court as the buzzer went off and the shot was no good, Panthers win!
 
Webbert had an extremely efficient game for the Panthers. He scored a game-high 19 points on 8/11 shooting from the field and 3/4 from deep, grabbed four rebounds and had four assists. Bramhill lit it up from deep, shooting 5/9 from three, and made the game-winning shot late in the game. Hudson was the only other Panther to score in double digits with 12 points on 4/10 shooting from deep. Seven players for Davenport grabbed three or more rebounds on the night.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers travel to San Diego, California to compete in the Point Loma Thanksgiving Tournament this week. Davenport plays on Friday against Point Loma and Saturday against Azusa Pacific University.

Story by: Devin Steiner
 
Picture credit: Alexis Hoffman