ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Davenport University men's basketball team broke through for its first win of the season on Saturday defeating Tampa of the Sunshine State Conference, 64-58. Now with an overall record of 1-4, the Panthers will open GLIAC play on Thursday at Lake Superior State with the opening tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Sault Ste. Marie.
For the second-straight game, Davenport was paced by
Jordan Sterling in the scoring department as the graduate guard poured in 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including 2-of-6 from deep, to go with four rebounds, two steals and an assist. Next up was
Jakub Dombek with 15 points, seven boards and three steals. Also scoring in double-figures for the Panthers were
Luke Bara (pictured) with 13, 12 of which came in the second half, and
Marcedus Leech Jr. with 10. Bara was on top of the team's assist category with three while
James Felton added three steals.
Once again, the first 20 minutes were tight as they featured a total of six ties and nine lead changes. Tampa's lead was as big as three (9-6, 26-23) while Davenport was ahead by as many as five (19-14, 20-15). However, for the fifth time in as many games, the Panthers went into the locker room for halftime trailing, this time by three at 26-23.
It was more of the same out of the break as the score was deadlocked five more times and the lead changed hands on nine more occasions. The 18th and final lead change, though, put Davenport ahead with just over seven minutes to play in the game and the good guys were able to hold on.
Â