Box score (.html)
Box score (.pdf)
Head coach Ray McCallum post-game interview
DETROIT- Five Titans scored in double figures as host Detroit cruised to a 79-56 Horizon League win at Calihan Hall Thursday night. Detroit (8-6, 2-0 HL) shot 57.8 percent from the floor and was led by 17-point efforts from both Ray McCallum and Chase Simon. Eli Holman added his seventh double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Green Bay (6-8, 1-2) was led by Jarvis Williams and Rahmon Fletcher, who each scored 15 points.
'Tis the season to share-- Detroit embodied that on this night. The Titans showed-off a host of flashy passes in the win, leading to easy buckets and transition scores. Alley-oop dunks helped stretch the Titan advantage. The first coming from McCallum and finished by Minnerath to make it a 24-16 lead in the first half, causing a Phoenix timeout. Chris Blake was the benefactor in the second half as Donavan Foster found an awaiting Blake ready to flush home the pass and give Detroit a 54-40 lead.
The second oop came after McCallum found Holman underneath, who finished with an emphatic flush and the entire team got into the action. It would be the theme of the night with the Titans using the extra pass to find open looks in outshooting Green Bay 57.4 to 39.1 percent on the night. Simon got two of his game-high-tying 17 points when he poked away a steal and finished a give-and-go with Jason Calliste helping UDM to a 40-33 lead at the break.
Where Detroit was especially impressive was at the free throw line. Coming into the game, the Titans were shooting 65.6 percent from the charity stripe. Detroit made 23 of 26 freebies on Thursday-- including all 13 in the second half-- for a robust 88.5 percent clip.
With the score at 56-48 midway through the second stanza, Green Bay made just one field goal over the next four minutes to fall behind by 15. That deficit would reach 23 as the Phoenix mustered just a 34.5-percent field-goal percentage after halftime and missed 16 of 18 three-point attempts in the game.
The scoring load was spread out with McCallum and Simon each recording 17, Blake had 13 and Minnerath and Holman each tallied a dozen. UDM stayed out of foul trouble, but Green Bay couldn't as both Daniel Turner and Alex Brown fouled out and Jarvis Williams had four personal fouls.
UDM will look to remain perfect in league play when it faces Milwaukee on New Year's Day in a matinee affair at home. Tip is slated for 1:00 p.m.
Notes: Detroit is shooting .492 at home (190-386) this season compared to .403 away from Calihan Hall (163-404) ... Detroit bullied Green Bay underneath, outscoring its opponent 42-22 in the paint on Thursday ... Holman's double-double effort was his seventh of the season and 18th of his career ... Minnerath tripled his season block total in the win, swatting four shots ... McCallum had led the team in scoring in each of the last five games.
