HOUGHTON, Mich. - The eighth-seeded Davenport University men's basketball team (16-13) has made it to Championship Sunday and will face third-seeded Northern Michigan (18-11) in the GLIAC Tournament finals at 2:30 p.m. The Panthers have won six games in a row while the Wildcats have been on the right end in nine straight. The winner of Sunday's showdown earns an automatic bid to play in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
•   Championship Sunday: For the second time in program history, Davenport will be playing for a GLIAC Championship. However, this time around is much different than when it last happened in 2019. That season was just the Panthers' second as a member of the GLIAC and they were still going through the NAIA-to-DII transition period, so even if they'd beaten Grand Valley State in that game, their season still would have been over. This time, however, the Panthers are actually playing for an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
•   Davenport 91, Ferris State 90 (March 2 - Quarters): Chris Rollins went to the free throw line with 4.2 seconds remaining and the score tied, 90-90, on Wednesday at Ferris State in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals. Rollins missed the first, both teams called a timeout and the redshirt senior came back out to drain the second and give his team a one-point lead, 91-90. From there, the top-seeded Bulldogs were unable to even get a shot up and the eighth-seeded Panthers held on to advance to the semifinals for the second time in program history. Once
Jarrin Randall pulled his team within one, Rollins converted one of two free throws and
Jairus Stevens made a layup to put Davenport ahead by two, 90-88, at the 1:26 mark. Ferris State's Dorian Aluyi then made two free throws of his own with just 32 seconds to play that made the score 90-90 before the ensuing heroics from No. 2. Overall, the instant classic saw a total of 19 ties and 20 lead changes.
•   Davenport 98, Saginaw Valley State 80 (March 5 - Semis): Davenport trailed Saginaw Valley State by nine, 50-41, at halftime on Saturday in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals. Following the intermission, a different team walked out of the locker room, outscored the Cardinals by 27, 57-30, and advanced to Championships Sunday with an 18-point victory, 98-80. Saginaw Valley State led by as many as 16 points in the first half including 24-8, 26-10 and 28-12. Once it was 28-12, Davenport scored nine-straight points to cut the deficit to seven, 28-21. The Cardinals persevered, though, with a 12-4 run that put them back ahead by 15, 40-25, with just over six minutes to play in the period. The Panthers again had an answer, this time with a 12-1 spurt that made it a four-point game, 41-37, just before the two-minute warning. From there until the buzzer, SVSU scored nine points to DU's four to lead by nine at the break.Out of the stoppage, Davenport's first lead of the game came at the 15:11 mark when
Luke Maranka hit the first of his two three-pointers and the score was 55-54. Following four lead changes, the last of which came with a
Chris Rollins jumper that made it 62-61 in favor of the good guys, they proceeded to completely take the game over. The Panthers rattled off 14 of the next 18 points to push their advantage to 11, 76-65. From there, the closest the Cardinals could get was six, 78-72 and 80-74, and the Panthers' lead ballooned to as much as 18 at 96-78 and 98-80 when the final buzzer sounded.
•    About the Wildcats: Northern Michigan, owner of the longest winning streak in the GLIAC, has won nine games in a row, a streak that dates back to Feb. 5. Prior to those nine games, the Wildcats had lost two in a row and three of their last four to fall two games below the .500 mark at 9-11. Since then, Northern Michigan has turned its season around and Second Team All-GLIAC honoree, Max Bjorklund, has been the biggest reason why. Bjorklund leads the team and ranks in a tie for sixth in the league in points per game with 17.0. The Minnesota native went off for 35 points in Northern's 78-71 semifinal win over Michigan Tech. He was joined on the Second Team by teammate, John Kerr (12.1 PPG), who was also featured on the All-Defensive Team. The final player averaging in double-figures for the Wildcats is Justin Brookens with 11.3 per game. Kerr leads the team in rebounding with 8.0 per contest (fourth in the GLIAC) and Brookens is on top of the team in assists with 3.0 per outing.
•    Northern Michigan 91, Davenport 79 (Jan. 20): Jarrin Randall scored the game's first points with a jumper under a minute in, but that would be Davenport's only lead of the game. The second and final tie came at 12-12 before Northern Michigan led by as many as 14, 39-25, and took a six-point advantage, 43-37, into halftime. Out of the break, the closest the Panthers could get was four, 43-39, when
Jairus Stevens hit a layup, but the Wildcats pushed the deficit back to 16, 85-69, before winning with the 12-point margin.
•    Northern Michigan 81, Davenport 75 (Feb. 12): Davenport trailed Northern Michigan by as many as 21 (52-31) on Senior Day before coming all the way back to within four, 59-55, with just under 10 minutes to play. However, the Wildcats didn't let the Panthers get any closer before holding them off by six, 81-75. During Davenport's 24-7 second-half run that cut the margin to four, four different Panthers scored including
Jarrin Randall (10),
Chris Rollins (8),
Jairus Stevens (4), and
Marcedus Leech Jr. (2). The Panthers went 10-for-15 from the field in that span and 4-for-7 from long range. Northern Michigan was then able to stem the tide with five-straight points to push its advantage back to five, 60-55.
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