Box Score GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Indiana Tech men's basketball season and the Al Grushkin era came to an end on Wednesday night as the Warriors fell to Davenport, 51-72, in the first round of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament at the DU Student Center.

The Panthers (26-5) scored first as Javonte Ford sank two free throws for a 2-0 lead, but Nick Lewis responded with a jumper to tie the score. Another Lewis basket and a jumper from John Cooksey put Tech up 6-2. A 4-0 run from the Panthers tied the score at six and after another tie at eight, Cooksey put the Warriors ahead again, 10-8. Unfortunately, the home team held Tech without a basket for the next five minutes, going on a 16-0 run to take a 14-point lead, 24-10, with 7:03 to play. The Orange and Black were able to close the half on a 9-5 run, entering the half with a 10-point, 29-19, deficit.

The Panthers won in the paint, 18-8 and outscored the Warriors bench 17-4. Davenport also held a slight edge in points off turnovers (6-4) and second-chance points (3-2). Jeff Hoskins, Rontray Chavis, Cooksey and Lewis all scored four points in the first half while Ford and Mike Betcher led the Panthers with eight points.

Lewis started the second half much like the first, scoring the Warriors first points of the period, cutting the deficit to eight, 29-21. After trading baskets several times, Chavis hit two free throws to cut the lead to just 12, 43-31 with 13:29 to play. A 6-0 run by the Panthers stretched their lead to 16, 47-31 and the closest Tech got to the Panthers the rest of the way was 14 points. A Lewis free throw with 29 seconds remaining cut the final margin to 21, 72-51.

Davenport dominated inside the paint, outscoring Tech 42-20 in the contest while also holding an 11-6 edge in second-chance points and a 33-7 margin in bench points. The Warriors offense was efficient, shooting 42.9 percent (21-for-49) from the field, but struggled from three, shooting just 18.2 percent (2-for-11) from long range and were 7-for-9 (77.8%) from the free throw line. The Panthers finished the contest 30-for-57 (52.6%) from the floor, 6-for-14 (42.9%) from behind the arc and finished 6-for-8 (75%) from the charity stripe.

Hoskins and Chavis led Tech with 12 points each while Cooksey added 1o points and had a team-high four rebounds.

Betcher led the Panthers with 18 points while Ford finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while Dominez Burnett added 13 points.

The Warriors finish the season 16-15, their fourth consecutive winning season, all under the direction of Grushkin. In his four seasons at the helm the Warriors have averaged 20 wins per season and have had numerous postseason accolades.