GLIAC - The Davenport men's basketball team won the school's first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title since joining the league in 2017-18 and will be the No. 1 seed in the 2019 GLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins with four quarterfinal games Tuesday.
The Panthers (25-3 overall, 17-3 GLIAC) play host to No. 8 Northwood (12-16 overall, 9-11 GLIAC) at 7 p.m. In other quarterfinal games, it's No. 7 Grand Valley State (16-12 overall, 10-10 GLIAC) at No. 2 Ashland (23-5 overall, 15-5 GLIAC) at 7:30 p.m., No. 6 Lake Superior State (15-11 overall, 11-9 GLIAC) at No. 3 Parkside (15-11 overall, 13-7 GLIAC) at 7:30 p.m. CT, and No. 5 Northern Michigan (16-11 overall, 11-9 GLIAC) at No. 4 Ferris State (20-11 overall, 12-8 GLIAC) at 7 p.m.
An incredibly balanced Davenport squad includes six players who average 10.0 or more points per game. Dyllon Hudson-Emory leads the Panthers and ranks fourth in GLIAC scoring at 17.8 points per game. DU enters the tournament with a 12-game win streak, including 11 straight against GLIAC opponents. The Panthers ended the regular season with back-to-back three-point victories over Northern Michigan, 74-71, and Grand Valley, 70-67.
NMU's Isaiah Johnson and Naba Echols lead the GLIAC in scoring at 20.4 and 19.1 ppg, respectively. Ashland's Aaron Thompson is the league's top rebounder at 9.4 rpg, followed by Lake Superior State's Rog Stein at 7.7. Parkside's Joey St. pierre has the league-leading field-goal percentage of 63.7.
LSSU closed the regular-season with back-to-back wins after losing three in a row by an average of 3.3 points. The Lakers' losing skid included a 60-58 setback at Parkside. The Rangers are arguably the league's second-hottest team, entering the tournament with three straight wins over LSSU, Ferris State and Purdue Northwest. Prior to that, they suffered back-to-back road losses by one and four points. Grand Valley had won four in a row prior to Thursday's loss to DU.
Winners advance to the semifinals on Saturday, March 9, at the site of the top remaining seed.
