Caledonia, Mich. – Playing in a rare Monday night game this late in the season usually means a make-up game for WHAC teams, but the Panthers men’s basketball team hosted Grace Bible to finish a home and home series against the Tigers and they are glad they did as they set a new school record for points in a game.  After seven tough losses in conference play, the Panthers came out with much more emotion as they used a huge first half run to vault them to a 107-54 win.  The win, which breaks the losing streak, improves DU to 9-17 on the year as they will now host UM Dearborn on Wednesday, February 13.

The first half started as a back and forth game as both teams were able to hit the shots given to them.  After taking a 15-13 lead at the 13:24 mark the Panthers found themselves trailing after the next possession as the Tigers hit a long 3-pointer from the corner, but the lead would turn out to be their last of the game.  Davenport came right back with a long range shot from Matt Barczak to grab the lead back at 18-16.  Grace Bible and Davenport would then trade baskets over the next few minutes before the host Panthers were able to separate themselves to a nine point lead at 34-25 with 5:52 remaining.  The Tigers followed with two free throws but what happened over the final 5:00 was exactly what Davenport needed: a HUGE run.  The Panthers closed the half on a 22-4 run that was highlighted 10 points from Tyler Ybema including a earth-moving dunk to give them a lead of 18 at the time.  Two more baskets by Ybema and one by Nathan Cox closed the half with Davenport leading 56-31.

After the way the first half ended, Coach Lewis Garner made sure the Panthers stayed focused and that they did as they used three runs of 11, 8 and 12 while giving up only 6 points to take a commanding 89-37 lead at the 10:02 mark of the second half.  The first run of 11-0 was highlighted by nine points by Nathan Cox and the last run featured baskets by four different players including Tyler Ybema, Mitch Vanderkam, Matt Barczak and David Finkbeiner.  All players on the Davenport lineup saw at least five minutes of play and the Panthers shot 51.9% (42/81) from the field.  The biggest story may have come at the defensive end as the Panthers allowed the Tigers to shoot only 33% from the field including just 29% in the second half.

Five players found double-digits for the Panthers led by Tyler Ybema who posted 20 points and was followed by Nathan Cox (17), Mitch Vanderkam (17), Matt Barczak (12) and Trevor Manning (11).  Sai-Quan Griffith posted a solid game with 5 points and 8 assists in the victory and was joined in dishing out the ball by David Finkbeiner who posted 6 assists.

Davenport will stay at home for their next two games, which are their last home games of the year, beginning Wednesday when they host UM Dearborn at 8:00 PM.  They will end their home schedule on Saturday, February 16 when they host Cornerstone University at 3:00 PM.