GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - For just the second time since joining Division II prior to the 2017-18 season, Davenport will play a GLIAC game on a Monday. In a game postponed from January 13, the Panthers will host Lake Superior State inside the DU Student Center with the opening tip set for 2:30 p.m.
•   Davenport 84, Purdue Northwest 56: Two days after scoring a career-high 26 points in a win at Davenport's bitter rival, Grand Valley State, on Tuesday,
Marcedus Leech Jr. was at it again against Purdue Northwest. Playing the team's first home game in 52 days, Leech Jr. scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-12 from the field, 6-of-8 from deep, and did it in just 14 minutes of playing time. The Panthers led the Pride wire to wire, were up by as many as 31 in the second half and cruised to a 28-point victory, 84-56. The first time Davenport and Purdue Northwest met this season (Dec. 11), the Pride's Mikell Cooper (34 points) was and still is the only Panther opponent with 30 or more points this season. Fast forward to Thursday and DU emphasized stopping Cooper as they held him without a single point and three turnovers in 15 minutes of action. That marked the first time in his 28 career games at PNW that Cooper was held scoreless. As a team, the Pride shot just 31 percent (18-of-58) from the floor, including only 26.7 percent (8-of-30) in the second half, the lowest overall clip by a Davenport opponent since Jan. 16, 2020 against Saginaw Valley State. Purdue Northwest managed just five makes in 27 attempts from behind the arc, including 1-of-14 in the second half. Purdue Northwest turned the ball over 14 times, 11 of which came on Davenport steals, while the Panthers gave it away just nine times for the second game in a row. DU hasn't had single-digit turnovers in back-to-back games since Feb. 1-2, 2019 against Ashland and Wayne State, respectively.. the Panthers also racked up 17 assists as a team, their second-highest total this season, second only to 21 on Nov. 23 against Great Lakes Christian. In the team head-to-head, the Panthers controlled the action in points off turnovers (19-7), second-chance points (13-9), points in the paint (32-24), and fast-break points (14-12).
•   Parkside 95, Davenport 73: Parkside's offense was other worldly on Saturday inside the DU Student Center as the Rangers scored 95 points, the most by a Davenport opponent at home in over eight years, and did so while shooting a blistering 68.6 percent (35-of-51) from the field. The Rangers led by as many as 27 in the second half and handed the Panthers their first home loss (5-1) of the season, 95-73. The Panthers fall to 9-7 overall and 5-4 in GLIAC play while the Rangers improve to 10-9 on the season including 7-5 in league games. Parkside now leads the all-time series with Davenport by two, 4-2, and has won two in a row in Grand Rapids.
Jarrin Randall scored a game-high 25 points, the third time he's gone for 20+ in the last five games, on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc. Also scoring in double-figures for the Panthers were
Marcedus Leech Jr. with 13 and
Chris Rollins with 12, all of which were in the second half.
Chaz Birchfield brought down six rebounds, Randall and Rollins each notched two assists, and Rollins collected three steals as well. Parkside's Tray Croft led all scorers with 30 points, just the second Davenport opponent to score 30 or more this season, and missed just two of his 13 field goal attempts in the process. Croft also tallied five assists and two steals in only 22 minutes of playing time. He was one of four Rangers to score in double-figures along with Vinson Sigmon Jr. (22), Rasheed Bello (15) and Jamir Simpson (14).
• Scouting the Lakers: Lake Superior State has lost two games in a row and four of its last five since winning four of five right before that. Six of the Lakers' seven losses have come away from home and they're just 2-5 in true road games, which includes a current four-game losing streak. Lake Superior State is led by one of the top scorers in the GLIAC in Malek Adams who's third in the league in scoring with 18.5 points per game. Among the conference's leaders, Adams is also first in steals (33), fourth in three-pointers made (44), fifth in points per 40 minutes (23.2), sixth in field goals made (107), sixth in free throws made (57), sixth in assists (66), and seventh in minutes per game (31.9). Three more Lakers average double-figures including Caden Ebeling (14.8), Kemon Bassett (13.9) and Xander Okerlund (10.4). Justin Fischer and Ebeling each bring down 5.3 rebounds per game while Fischer is tied for second in the GLIAC in assists per game with 4.8. As a team, Lake Superior State is fifth in both scoring offense with 78.0 points per game and scoring defense allowing 73.4 points per contest. The Lakers also take care of the ball as well as anyone in the country. Nationally, they're second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.94), fourth in assists per game (19.8), 10th in turnovers per game (10.2), 11th in fewest turnovers (163), 12th in turnover margin (4.6), and 18th in total assists (316).
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Monday, Jan. 31 - 2:30 PM -
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