GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport men's basketball team is hoping to get back into the win column as they travel across the Mackinac Bridge en route to a pair of games this weekend. The Panthers will travel to Michigan Tech on Thursday (7:30 PM) and head east to take on Northern Michigan on Saturday (1:00 PM).

Davenport is in Houghton on a mission this week to try to earn their second straight road win. Michigan Tech has won the last two meetings including the latest on Feb. 10, 2022 in Grand Rapids. The Panthers will use motivation from their past couple of very physical contests to go in and get a win. When it comes to the Huskies and the Panthers, the overall series is tied at 5-5. The Panthers will look to use the likes of Jordan Sterling and Marcedus Leech Jr. who have been consistent over the last five games. Leech Jr. is averaging 21 PPG and Sterling is averaging 14 PPG to lead the Panther offense. Back on Feb. 10, 2022, the Panthers shot 48.4 percent from the field. The Panthers were defeated 84-72 and former Panther Chris Rollins scored 16 points with two assists and Leech Jr. had 18 points and four assists of his own. The Panthers managed to to keep the game tight as there were nine lead changes throughout the ballgame. Marcus Thomashek currently leads the Huskies with 11.1 PPG and is shooting 38.6 percent from three-point range.

March 6, 2022 the Panthers got all of the better of the Wildcats as they took the 2022 GLIAC Tournament Championship in their last matchup. The Panthers win was fueled by a performance from Jarrin Randall who scored 28 points with four rebounds. His explosive game included shooting 6-for-12 from deep. There was additional help from Jairus Stevens (17 points) and Chris Rollins (16 points). The Panthers will enter the Wildcats' den this weekend in a calculated attempt to give them their second conference loss this season. The Wildcats are 14-3 this season, averaging 83.6 PPG as a team with a 49 percent shooting percentage.

•    Saginaw Valley State 77, Davenport 65 (Jan. 12)
Saginaw Valley State played a solid first half of basketball and shot 18-of-32 from the floor and connected on 8-of-11 at the free throw line. SVSU would lead 47-34 going into halftime. The Panthers played a better second half outscoring the Cardinals 31-30 and held them to 33.3 percent (9-of-27) from the floor. SVSU did get their points at the free throw line going 12-of-21 in the second half alone. For the contest, the Cardinals finished 20-of-32 at the charity stripe.

Davenport did shoot the ball well overall going 45.8 percent overall (22-of-48) and an above average 45 percent behind the arc (9-of-20). DU went to the line 19 times and converted 12 for 63.2 percent. The turnovers again plagued DU as they committed 24 compared to just 10 for the visitors from University Center. SVSU had a 29-12 advantage in points off turnovers and a 42-22 cushion in points in the paint.

The lead was never under double digits in the second half and 51-40 at the 16:45 mark was the closest that the Panthers would get. SVSU's leading scorer Tre Garrett had 24 points on 8-of-11 from the floor and 7-of-12 at the line. He also had eight rebounds and seven steals. Jordan Sterling led the Panthers with 13 points and also had three assists and two steals in 38 minutes. Assane Diouf had a season-high 11 points and a season-high eight rebounds in his fifth game with the team. Jaden Terrell rounded out the double figure guys for DU with 10 points.

•    Wayne State 80, Davenport 66 (Jan. 14)
On Saturday, the Panthers tangled with Wayne State at the DU Student Center and gave up 80 points or more for the ninth time this season in 17 games played. The game did feature four ties and 10 lead changes. Neither team had more than an eight-point lead in the first eight minutes before DU led 17-12 at the 11:58 mark. The lead grew to 19-12 on a pair of Jaylen Hodges free throws, but then the Warriors went on a 10-0 run to lead 22-19 at the 8:52 mark.

The Warriors were up four at the 2:57 mark and closed out the half on a 13-0 run to lead 46-37 at halftime. The run reached 17-0 with two baskets to start the second half by WSU. Davenport made a run of their own and trimmed the deficit down to 55-50 with 12:48 remaining after a three-pointer by Jordan Sterling. Wayne State increased their lead back to double digits but again DU would claw back and trail 68-62 with 5:19 to play. The next sequence proved to be pivotal as the Warriors missed three straight baskets on one possession and then Jackson canned a three-pointer with 3:51 to go to push their lead up to 71-62.

The Warriors got a super-human effort by Antonio Marshall who entered the game averaging 14.5 points and scored 36 points including six triples. Leech Jr. and Sterling was basically the offense for the Panthers each scoring 23 points. Sterling tied his season high also scoring 23 against Cornerstone. Leech Jr. got his 23 points going 7-of-14 from the field and 6-of-9 at the free throw line. Davenport shot 47.9 percent from the floor including 8-of-18 from the arc.

LIVE COVERAGE
Thursday, Jan. 19 at Michigan Tech - 7:30 PM - Live Audio - Live Video - Live Stats
Saturday, Jan. 21 at Northern Michigan - 1:00 PM - Live Audio - Live Video - Live Stats