GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Marcedus Leech Jr. hit a three-pointer from the wing with just 1:18 to play that put Davenport ahead of Grand Valley State by two, 67-65, Thursday night inside the DU Student Center. However, the Panthers wouldn't score again and the Lakers ended the game with a 6-0 run to steal the win away from the home team, 71-67. Next up, Davenport will host Northwood on Monday in the final home game of the season and the opening tip is set for 8 p.m. against the Timberwolves.

Leech Jr. secured the first double-double of his career thanks to a team-high 17 points and career-best 12 rebounds to go with three steals (game high), two assists and a block. Also scoring in double-figures for Davenport were Chris Rollins with 14 and Jarrin Randall with 11. Rollins dished out seven assists (game high) and Luke Maranka racked up seven blocks, which is a new school record.

The game saw a total of six ties and nine lead changes, all of which came in the game's final 12 minutes, and Davenport led by as many as eight points at 10-2 and 41-33. Once it was 62-59 in favor of the Panthers, Maranka hit a jumper in the paint to put his team up five, 64-59, with just over four minutes on the clock. The Lakers then responded with six-straight points to regain the advantage, 65-64, before Leech Jr.'s go-ahead triple at the 1:18 mark.

Davenport held Grand Valley State to just 33.3 percent shooting (24-of-72) for the game, but the Lakers racked up 57 rebounds to the Panthers' 35, including a staggering 24-6 advantage on the offensive glass. Because of that, Grand Valley State scored 25 second-chance points to Davenport's three. All of the other team head-to-head scoring categories including points off turnovers, bench points, points in the paint, and fast-break points were decided by three points or less.

Playing without its best player in Jake Van Tubbergen (only player in the league averaging a double-double), Grand Valley State turned to Isaac Gassman who finished with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-17 shooting to go with seven rebounds in 38 minutes on the court. Trevon Gunter finished with 13 points and Christian Negron added 11 accompanied by 12 boards.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler
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