Box Score
Box Score (PDF)
CHICAGO (3/2/13) – The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team captured its 20th win of the season with an impressive 79-67 road win over Horizon League foe UIC on Saturday at the UIC Pavilion. The win was also the 12th in league play for the Titans, which ties the most in program history since 1999.
The Titans have 20 wins for the 13th time in program history, three during the
Ray McCallum era, and have posted back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since the 2000-01, 2001-02 seasons.
Detroit (20-11, 12-4 Horizon) led at the half, 36-22, and then pulled away late after UIC (16-14, 7-9 Horizon) trimmed the lead to five 49-44 with 9:55 remaining.
Senior
Doug Anderson finished with a team-high 22 points and nine rebounds, while junior guard
Jason Calliste captured his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 assists.
Ray McCallum had a productive afternoon as well with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists to help lead the Titans their second-straight 20 win season.
Both teams started the game by exchanging baskets for the first eight minutes of action as the score was tied 14-14 with 11:45 left. Detroit then closed the half with a 22-8 run, including three nice dunks from Anderson, McCallum and
Nick Minnerath, to take a 36-22 lead into the locker room. Anderson led Detroit with 10 points, while McCallum had eight and Minnerath six.
The Flames started the second half with an 11-2 run to trim Detroit's lead to one, 38-33, before the Titans answered right back with a 5-0 run to stretch the lead back to 10, 43-33 with 13 minutes remaining. UIC would trim the lead to five again with 9:55 left, but that was as close as the scored would get as Detroit closed the game with a 30-23 run.
The Titans ended the game shooting 50 percent (31-62) from the field, while UIC shot 36.8 percent (21-57) overall. The Flames won the battle on the boards 37-33, but Detroit forced 19 UIC turnovers while dishing out 23 assists.
Daniel Barnes finished with a game-high 28 points, 25 in the second half, to lead UIC, while Anthony Kelley added 15.
Detroit, which clinched the No. 2 seed in the Horizon League Championship, will wait to see who its opponent is in the semifinals. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. ET in Valparaiso, Ind. at the ARC and will televised on ESPNU.