Lourdes rallied from 16 points down in the second half to pull within three, but could not get any closer on Saturday afternoon as the Gray Wolves fell to top-ranked Davenport 74-67 at Tam-o-Shanter.
 
"I thought we played hard with a lot of passion and energy today," Andre Smith said after the game.  "We just dug ourselves too big of a hole.  You can't come back from 16 points down against the number one team in the country."
 
Lourdes kept the game close early, tying the game at 18 following a three-point play by E.J. Blackwell (Rochester, Pa./Rochester H.S.).  Davenport responded with a quick 11-0 run in under four minutes to take control.  Six straight points late in the half pushed the advantage to 15 before the Panthers settled for a 41-27 lead at intermission.
 
Davenport shot 55.2% in the opening 20 minutes while defensively forced 10 Gray Wolf turnovers which led to 14 points. 
 
The Panthers increased the lead to 16 on the first possession of the second half, and maintained a 10-to-14 point lead over the first 11 minutes of the stanza.  Trailing 60-48, Lourdes scored eight straight points, capped by a three-pointer from Zach Steinmetz (Toledo, Ohio/Saint John's H.S.) to pull within four 60-56, with 6:26 to play.
 
An Alonzo Hamilton (Linden, N.J./The Robinson School) triple two minutes later made it a three-point game, but Davenport answered again, pushing the lead back to eight, 69-61, with under two minutes remaining.  Hamilton made another three with 1:23 to play, and after Davenport missed two free throws, Blackwell split a pair of free throws with 31.3 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 70-67.
 
"We showed a lot of fight coming back," Smith added.  "Alonzo hit a couple of big shots to help us get back in the game."
 
The Panthers split two free throws with 28.1 to play, and Lourdes had a chance to cut into the lead even further, but a missed layup ended the Gray Wolves' chances for an upset.  Davenport made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 16 seconds to secure the win.
 
Blackwell led Lourdes with 22 points, making 9-of-11 from the free throw line.  Julian Johnson (Columbus, Ohio/Horizon H.S.) added 17 points and handed out eight assists while Hamilton finished the game with 13 points.
 
Dominez Burnett and Jason Jordan led Davenport (23-3, 17-1 WHAC) with 15 points each while Nick Gamble tallied 12 points.  Kevin Rich also finished in double figures, scoring 11 points for the Panthers.
 
Lourdes (9-16, 4-14) will take to the road for the next three games, beginning on Wednesday evening with a trip to Detroit, Mich. to face Marygrove.  Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at the Northwest Activities Center.