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Men's Basketball

Detroit Entertains Cleveland State Saturday In Horizon League Match-Up

Gametracker

Horizon League Network

The Titans will look for their first Horizon League victory of the season as UDM hosts Cleveland State on Saturday afternoon in Calihan Hall. Tip-off is slated for 4:07 p.m.

Matt Dery, “The Voice of the Titans,” will have the call live on WDFN-AM 1130. Fans can also watch the event with a live webstream on the Horizon League Network or get updated scores and stats through CSTV's Gametracker. Saturday's contest will also be televised by SportsTime Ohio, a regional cable network that fans in the area can get with DirecTV (662) or the Dish Network (431) with the proper sports subscription. 

Saturday is also Military Appreciation Day as the Titans are offering a ticket special for both retired and enlisted military personnel. Each member of the military will receive two complimentary tickets with proper military ID. All fans can then get an autograph from the UDM men's team following the game.

Detroit (4-8, 0-3 HL) was edged by Youngstown State, 80-78, on New Years despite career highs from juniors Woody Payne and Thomas Kennedy.

Cleveland State (10-5, 1-2 HL) lost its second conference game of the year, 71-62, at Wright State on Tuesday. The Vikings defeated No. 11 Syracuse earlier in the year, but are just 7-5 on the season against Division I opponents.

ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE
Cleveland State enters the weekend with a 10-5 overall mark, which includes a victory on the road against then No. 11 Syracuse, but the Vikings are 1-2 in the conference after suffering a 71-62 defeat at Wright State on Tuesday. 

CSU was the pre-season favorite to win the Horizon League with seniors J'Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson also receiving pre-season All-League honors. Bullock is third in the conference in scoring at 15.1 points per game as well as third in rebounding at 7.2 a night. 

Jackson leads the conference in assists with 5.1 per game to go with 9.2 ppg., and 5.1 rpg. He made headlines earlier in the year by hitting a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to down the Orange. 

The Vikings lead the league in scoring defense allowing just 55.8 points a game. 

Gary Waters, the 2008 HL Coach of the Year, is in his third season at the helm of the CSU program, where he owns a 41-39 record. Overall, Waters is in his 13th year as a head coach (212-174) with stops at Kent State and Rutgers along the way.

DETROIT VS. CLEVELAND STATE
The Titans have dominated the match-up with a 31-11 mark over Cleveland State, but CSU swept the season series last year, including its first every victory in Calihan Hall in 21 tries. UDM won the first career eight meetings and as well as putting together a 10-game winning streak against CSU between 2000-04.

IMPRESSIVE MARKS
The 31-11 record against Cleveland State equates to a 74-percent winning percentage. That mark is good for the sixth best winning percentage over an opponent in Titans history, and the third best against current Division I schools. Below is the top seven all-time opponent winning percentage. (At Least 10 Games Played) 

Hillsdale 30-2 94%
Oakland 11-1 92%
St. Mary's (MI) 15-3 83%
John Carroll 24-6 80%
Eastern Michigan 56-15 79%
Cleveland State 31-11 76%
Chicago State 10-3 77%

PAYNE TOPS 20
Junior Woody Payne netted his first career 20-point game with 24 against Youngstown State his last time out. Payne also connected on a career best 9-of-11 from the field. The Inkster, MI native has now scored in double digits in five of the last eight games, including 17+ points on three occasions. In the last four games, the 5-11 guard is averaging 12.5 ppg., shooting 56-percent from the field (17-of-30), while grabbing 3.5 rebounds and handing out 4.0 assister per game.

JOKIC CATCHING FIRE
Junior Nemanja Jokic put his name in double figures for the first time this season with 10 points against Youngstown State. Jokic was 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 from three-point range. The 6-7 forward from Serbia will look to continue his positive play against the Vikings, whom he posted his career high of 12 points in their last match-up in Cleveland.

TITANS PICKING UP THE OFFENSE
Detroit scored a season high 78 points against Youngstown State and are averaging 72.5 ppg., in its last two games, up from 48.2 a night in its previous four contests.

THE GOOD & THE BAD
In the Titans 80-78 loss to Youngstown State, Detroit hit its high water mark for the year in points, marking the first time this season and just the fourth time in the last two years UDM reached 70+ points. It was the most offense UDM has had in a game since an 82-80 loss in the 2007 Horizon League tournament, also against YSU. It was also the first time this season that the Titans shot over 50 percent in a game (56%-28-of-50) and had more assists (12) then turnovers (11).
Unfortunately, it was the third time this year that Detroit gave up 80+ points in a contest.

A THORN ON THE SIDE OF THE VIKINGS
Junior Jason Bennett has fond memories of Cleveland State. Bennett turned in his career high of 11 points to go with six rebounds and five blocks in just 16 minutes of action against CSU as a freshman at Kansas State in 2006.
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