Lourdes was within single digits of 11^th-ranked Davenport with under four minutes to play on Saturday afternoon, but 11 straight points by the Panthers put the game out of reach on the way to a 75-57 victory at the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"It's always tough to play these last couple of games before Christmas when the students have gone home, but even more so against a program as strong as Davenport," head coach Josh Gibson said.  "We started the game playing too fast, but settled in and fought for about 35 minutes.  Other than our work on the defensive glass, I thought our effort was solid for most of the day."
 
The Gray Wolves never led in the game, but after trailing by 15, 60-45, with 7:23 to play, scored seven straight points to pull within eight at the 5:12 mark.  Lourdes was still within nine, 64-55, with 3:40 to play before the 11 straight points by Davenport.  The Gray Wolves scored a late bucket for the game's final margin.
 
"We ran out of gas in the last five minutes after we cut it to single digits, and we allowed them to put the game away," Gibson added.  "This is one of those games where I don't think the final score is reflective of the type of game it was."
 
Lourdes stayed within striking range the entire first half.  After trailing by as many as seven, the Gray Wolves battled back to within two, 21-19, with five minutes to play before the break.  The Panthers were able to extend the lead back to six, 32-26, with a basket as time expired. 
 
The Panthers scored the first six points out of the locker room to push the lead to 12, and went on another 10-3 run to increase the lead to 15 in the second half before the Gray Wolves battled back.
 
Najeeb Johnson (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights H.S.) led Lourdes with 18 points while Desmond Frazier (Ocala, Fla./Dunnellon H.S.) and Anthony Swanigan (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike H.S.) added 10 points each.  Lourdes shot 39% from the floor and committed 14 turnovers, only six of which were in the first half.
 
Robbie Bramhill led all scorers with 23 points for Davenport (11-4, 6-2 WHAC) while Kevin Rich added 19 points and nine rebounds.  The Panthers shot 40.6% from the floor but committed just six miscues.
 
Lourdes (2-12, 1-7) takes to the road on Tuesday evening, heading to Rochester Hills, Mich. to battle ninth-ranked Rochester (Mich.).  Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at the O'Rena on the campus of Oakland University.