No. 8 Men’s Hoops falls 79-69 in WHAC Title Game

Box Score

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – In the third meeting between the two Grand Rapids-area rivals, it was the No. 3 ranked Davenport Panthers that came out on top in the WHAC Tournament championship game. The 79-69 loss drops the No. 3 ranked Golden Eagles to 26-6 on the year as they will find out their NAIA DII National Tournament opponent on Wednesday evening.

Game Flow

Davenport came out on fire as they jumped out to a 10-4 lead just over four minutes into the game. The Golden Eagles responded and just past the halfway mark of the opening half had a 26-23 lead after a long jumper from Ben Lanning (SR/Grandville, Mich.). That lead held up until CU was up 35-32 but three straight turnovers led to the Panthers closing out the half on an 8-3 run to lead 40-38.

The Panthers then started the second half just as they did the first and they upped their lead to 52-43 with 14:15 to play. The closest Cornerstone got for the remainder of the game was six as the Golden Eagles could not get any shots to fall from behind the arc. Davenport hit their free-throws down the stretch to preserve the win by 10.

By the Numbers

3 – Just three CU players reached double-figures – Ben Lanning (17), Kyle Steigenga (SO/Holland, Mich.) (16) and Travis Wells (SR/Eaton Rapids, Mich.) (12)

5/20 – Cornerstone connected on just 25% of their shots from behind the arc

45-42 – CU out-rebounded Davenport by three

15 – Turnovers for the Golden Eagles – compared to just nine for DU

Up Next

Cornerstone moves on to the NAIA DII National Tournament to be played in Point Lookout, Mo. from March 9-15. CU will find out their first round opponent on Wednesday evening.

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