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DETROIT (1/10/2015) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team improved to 2-1 in the Horizon League on Saturday after earning a 74-54 Metro Series victory over rival Oakland in front of 6,522 fans at historic Calihan Hall.

All 11 Titans who played scored led by freshman Paris Bass' career-high 18 points. Senior Juwan Howard Jr. added 11 points and junior Anton Wilson scored 10 points in the Detroit victory.

Detroit improved to 8-9 overall, 2-1 in league play, while the Golden Grizzlies dropped to 5-12 overall and 1-2 in the league.

The Titans had a 38-23 lead at halftime and didn't relinquish the double-digit advantage in the second half. Detroit's largest lead of the game was 21 points late in the second half.

Oakland scored the first three points of the game before the Titans answered back with a 5-0 run to take their first lead. Both teams then swapped baskets for the next 12 minutes as Detroit led 25-23 with 4:50 left, before the Titans closed the half with a 13-0 run to take 38-23 lead into the locker room. Chris Jenkins scored six points during that run, while Howard had five and freshman Jaleel Hogan sored four.
 
Detroit started the second half with a 7-2 run to build a 20-point lead, 45-25, with 17 minutes remaining. The Titans lead would hover around 20 for the next 10 minutes, until the Golden Grizzlies put together an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 12, 63-51 with 4:45 remaining. But Detroit responded a 9-0 run including a pair of dunks from Bass and 3-pointer from Howard to give the Titans their largest lead of the game 72-51 with 3:06 left.

Both teams finished with 38 rebounds, while Detroit shot 46.7 percent from the field. Oakland shot 34.5 percent from the floor. The Titans were 9-for-16 from the free throw line, while the Golden Grizzlies finished shooting 8-of-13 from the charity stripe.

Detroit will continue Horizon League play when the Titans visit the Windy City to face UIC on Wednesday, Jan. 14. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET at the UIC Pavilion and will be televised nationally on ESPN3.