Box Score
In the end, the Titans came up with one less comeback than they needed, as Detroit fell to old rival Loyola, 72-66, in its annual Homecoming Game on Saturday afternoon at Calihan Hall.
The loss was Detroit's (4-14, 0-9 HL) seventh straight as the Titans remained winless in the calendar year. Loyola picked up just its second win in its last 16 trips to Calihan, advancing to 12-9 overall (4-5 HL) in the process.
Ramblers guard J.R. Blount and the Titans' Woody Payne shared game scoring honors with 20 points apiece. Walt Gibler backed up Blount with 13 points – the two also shared game rebounding honors with eight boards apiece – as did Darrin Williams, while Thomas Kennedy was next in line for Detroit with 15 points, his third straight game in double figures, and a team-best four assists.
The Titans trailed 7-0 before they even attempted a shot and 11-2 before the first T.V. time-out in the contest aired regionally on Fox Sports Detroit, yet they responded quickly. They used an 8-0 run to get right back into the contest and grabbed their first lead of the game at 18-17 on a Eugene Blue bucket. Detroit stayed ahead and maintained its seventh halftime edge of the year at 37-33.
The Titans stretched their lead to seven early in the second stanza, but a 10-2 Loyola response eventually put the Ramblers back on top, 51-46, with 12:12 left on the clock. Detroit answered again, with consecutive hoops by Michael Harrington, Kennedy and Chris Hayes, plus a pair of Eulis Stephens free throws, turning things right around as Detroit took over command, 54-51, just 3:01 later.
Loyola responded with a 7-0 run, Detroit climbed back once more and the teams were deadlocked at 58-all just 5:05 from the finish. The Ramblers went on another 7-0 spurt and this time, Detroit – which missed six free throws in a row down the stretch – had no reply as it lost to Loyola for the sixth time in the last seven meetings.
"We're battling, we're playing extra hard, we just haven't been rewarded in the Win column," Titans coach Ray McCallum noted. "We had some unforced errors and mistakes that cost us. We've just got to maintain for 40 minutes.
"We had a good start to the game. We had a bit of energy. The 37 points at the half we had is good basketball. Their guards controlled a lot of the action in the second half. We had to do a better job on them."
Both teams shot 47% from the field and UDM held a slight 34-33 rebounding edge in the evenly-matched contest. The Titans committed 13 turnovers and Loyola nine.
The Titans now embark on a three-game road trip, beginning Monday with a non-league contest at Chicago State (8:00 p.m., WDFN-AM 1130).
-Detroit Titans-
