Box score

DETROIT-- University of Detroit Mercy led wire-to-wire in an impressive 78-69 win against arch-nemesis Wright State in the Horizon League opener for both schools Saturday at Calihan Hall.  The win snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Raiders for UDM, a run that dated back to the 2005-06 season.

Detroit (5-4, 1-0 HL) was in command from the get-go, scoring 10 of the game's first 12 points.  The Titans made their first six shots from the floor and held a comfortable 12-4 lead at the first media timeout.

Junior Eli Holman had his way down low for most of the afternoon, converting on 5-of-6 shots in the first half as he tallied a dozen points and eight rebounds in the opening stanza alone.  

The Titans would run their lead to as many as 12 in the first half, but had to fight through a six-minute stretch without a field goal to take a 39-30 advantage into the locker room.

The Raiders squeezed the lead down to four early in the second half until a pair of buckets by Ray McCallum book-ended a triple from Jason Calliste-- who had four on the night-- to put UDM back up by double digits, 50-39.

WSU (3-5, 0-1) got back-to-back threes from Vaughn Duggins and Troy Tabler to inch within 65-62, the tightest margin since the opening minute.  After Holman picked-up two quick fouls to give him four personals with five minutes left, momentum was clearly in favor of the road team.  A big defensive rebound led to a fast-break dunk by Chase Simon and the Calihan crowd returned to the game.

Foul trouble became a major factor down the stretch.  With Holman and Calliste already saddled with four fouls, Simon picked-up his fourth and fifth on the same trip with a technical foul.  Despite the foul trouble and the penchant for the offensive charge whistle, Detroit continued to attack the rim.  McCallum earned six free throws in the minute-and-a-half and hit five including a layup to keep his team in front.

The exclamation point came with Detroit leading 76-69, McCallum grabbed a steal and Holman eventually ended the trip with an emphatic dunk to give him 17 points, one of four Titans in double figures.  Calliste had 20 on 4-of-5 shooting-- all from three-point range-- while McCallum added 16 and Simon chipped-in 12.  LaMarcus Lowe had four blocks  to go along with six points and three boards.

Detroit was especially efficient in the second half, making 10-of-13 shots from the floor and connecting on 17-of-22 from the line to help clinch the win.  

UDM will take to the road for its next four games, all in non-conference action.  The stretch begins Wednesday when the Titans head to Kalamazoo, Mich. to battle Western Michigan. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.

Notes:  It was Holman's sixth double-double of the season ... He was tied for the most in all of Division I coming into the week ... Holman now has 17 double-doubles in 40 career games as a Titan ... Lowe now has at least one block in eight of the nine games this season ... Simon scored his 600th career point as a Titanin the win while Holman surpassed 500 in his career ... Detroit will not play Wright State again until Feb. 25, the regular season finale for the Titans.