GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Wayne State University men's basketball program (6-4 overall, 4-1 GLIAC) made its first-ever trip to Davenport (9-4 overall, 3-2 GLIAC) on Saturday afternoon in the final contest of 2017 and the Warriors led by as many as nine in the second half and held on to win 65-62. The game featured the top two teams in the GLIAC South Division and with the victory WSU sits alone atop of the South Division standings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- WSU led 5-3 at the 17:40 mark after a triple from
Latin Davis, Jr. (Ypsilanti, Mich. / Milan). The advantage grew to 11-3 after two free throws from
Ronald Booth (Detroit, Mich. / Consortium). The Panthers began to chip away at the deficit and eventually took a 14-13 lead on a jumper from Delano Smith with 10 minutes to play before halftime.
Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) kept the Warriors close, 17-16, with a three-pointer at the 8:50 mark. A mid-range jumper by
George Spencer (Detroit, Mich. / Belleville) made it 22-20 in favor of Davenport with 5:41 remaining before the break. After a bucket from
Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech) at the 3:20 mark, Booth hit from long range to give WSU a 25-23 lead with 1:43 left to play. A dunk from Key continued the rally and gave the Green & Gold a 29-23 advantage. Wayne State ended the half on an 11-1 run and held DU without a field goal over the final 5:50 of the stanza.
- Moore extended the visitors lead to nine (33-24) with a jumper at the 18:30 mark of the second half. A triple from Davis kept the Warriors' lead at nine, 45-36, with just over 12 minutes left in the contest. A quick 8-0 run by the Panthers brought them within one (48-47) at the 8:34 mark, but two free throws from Davis stopped the run and gave WSU a 50-47 lead. Spencer kept the momentum on the WSU side with consecutive layups, pushing the advantage to seven (54-47) with 7:19 to play. Booth connected on two free throws to keep the lead at seven at the 4:49 mark. With 1:57 remaining, two Davenport free throws trimmed the Warrior advantage to five (58-53). Robbie Bramhill hit from behind the arc to cut WSU's lead to three with 48 seconds remaining. The Warriors converted four free throws to take a 65-60 lead before DU had an opportunity to cut the lead to two with a three-point play on an Avery Hudson layup but Hudson missed the free throw. The Panthers were inbounding from the baseline with 0.5 seconds left on the clock, but were unable to get a shot off as WSU secured the three-point victory.
LEADING THE WARRIORS
- Davis finished with a game-high and a career-best 20 points, connecting on a season-high four triples. Booth tallied 15 points, while both Moore and Spencer chipped in 10 points each. Moore was also solid on the glass, collecting nine rebounds for the second straight game and the third time this season.
LEADING THE PANTHERS
- Hudson paced Davenport with 14 points, while Nick Malonga scored 12 points and pulled down nine boards.
UP NEXT
- Wayne State will look to start the new year with an upset at nationally-ranked Ferris State on Jan. 4th. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
