DETROIT (1/3/2019) -- Freshman Antoine Davis' first career Horizon League game at Calihan Hall was a historic one, as the sensational rookie scored a career-high 48 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team past defending Horizon League champion Wright State, 79-58, Thursday night.

"They won last year and we have a chip on our shoulder that we were picked to finish last," said Davis. "We just wanted to go out there and show everyone what we were capable of doing."

Davis — who was one point shy of tying the university's single-game point record — shot 62.5 percent from the field on a season-best 15-of-24 shooting, headlined by 10-of-15 from 3-point land. His 10 triples also tied his school record he had earlier in the year. The 48 points is also the third-highest scoring outburst in NCAA Division I this year, and the most against a Division I opponent.

"They said I almost got the record," said Davis. "I was not thinking about it. I was just playing my game and my teammates were great today."

Archie Tullos owns Detroit Mercy's single-game point mark with 49 points, set on Feb. 2, 1988, as Davis is the first freshman in school history to record two 40-point performances as he had 42 in the victory over Loyola Maryland on Nov. 19. 

The Titans (6-9, 3-0 Horizon League) trailed by nine points with 12 minutes left in the first half before the offense broke out in a big way. Davis scored 22 points in the first half, headlined by a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer.

The Titans trailed, 25-18, with eight minutes left in the first half when the red, white and blue ended the half on a 16-2 run to go into the break up, 34-27. 

Wright State (7-9, 1-2 HL) did not lead at any point in the game's final 21:38 minutes. Detroit Mercy's largest lead of the night was 24 points as the Titans started to put it on as the second half went on. 

Graduate student Derrien King chipped in 11 points and three Titans grabbed at least six rebounds — headlined by senior Gerald Blackshear Jr.'s team-high eight boards. Davis and junior Lamar Hamrick both had six caroms.

The Titans forced just six steals but took advantage of Wright State miscues with the ball, scoring 21 points off turnovers, while the defense limited WSU to 37.7 percent shooting overall and 18.2 percent from behind the arc. 

Wright State had three players finish in double figures in scoring. Loudon Love led the way with a team-high 15 points, Mark Hughes added 13 points and Bill Wampler had 11.

Wright State had the edge in points in the paint (32-14), bench points (15-12) and rebounds (37-33). Both the Raiders and Detroit Mercy were deadlocked in defensive rebounds with 25 apiece.

Next up for the Titans is a Saturday matinee duel with conference preseason favorite Northern Kentucky at Calihan Hall. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. The matchup can be viewed live on ESPN+ or listened to on-air on Radio 910 AM.

First Half:

• Davis started the Titan offense with a 3-pointer
• Wright State was up 12-7 when King got inside for a layup and Davis nailed another triple
• King and Davis would later hit 3-pointers and then a jumper by Davis had the team within three, 21-18, with 9:13 left
• Wright State was up, 25-18, with eight minutes left when  the red, white and blue ended the half on a 16-2 run
• Detroit Mercy was then down by just one, 25-24, as Davis' fourth three of the half made the score 25-24 with four minutes remaining
• Detroit Mercy then took a 28-27 lead with one minute left as King hits a jumper
• The run went to 13-2 as Davis got inside for a layup and a foul and he hit the free throw for a 31-27 advantage with under a minute left and with time winding down, Davis connected on his fifth triple of the game for a 34-27 advantage at the break

Second Half

• Wright State opened the second half with a three-point play and scored a layup just over a minute later, but Davis answered with a pair of triples and a jumper to give the Titans a 10-point lead three minutes out of the break
• After a triple by Wright State's Bill Wampler, Detroit Mercy went on a 7-0 run, which featured a pair of layups by junior Harrison Curry and graduate student Jacob Holland, and three makes from the charity stripe by senior Josh McFolley, who was fouled on a 3-point attempt
• An 8-1 run by the Raiders cut Detroit Mercy's lead from 14 points, 49-35, to seven points, 50-43
• The Titans responded with a Davis-fueled 9-2 run that spanned less than two minutes of game time, which included a jumper by the star freshman, four converted free throws and a triple, the last of which gave him 40 points on the night with 7:32 to play
• With six minutes left, Davis drilled a 3-pointer, breaking his previous career high of 42 points, as the Titans went up 64-45
• McFolley broke up a run of five consecutive points by Wright State with a three-pointer, King converted a pair of free throws and Holland floated in a layup to give the Titans a 71-50 edge with 3:32 left
• Detroit Mercy took its largest lead of the contest at 24 points after Holland's pair of makes at the free-throw line
• Davis sunk a triple, his 10th of the game, with 50 seconds left to give him a historic 48 points

Game Notes

• The Titans ended a five-game losing streak to the Raiders now trail the all-time series, 31-27
• Detroit Mercy is now 3-0 in the Horizon League for the first time since 2015-16
• The last time the Titans posted three-straight double-digit wins was in 2009 in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic as Detroit Mercy beat Robert Morris (71-59), Albany (66-54) and Alcorn State (79-59), all held in Albany
• The last time Detroit Mercy won three-straight conference games by double digits was in 2004-05 when they won four in a row over Cleveland State (67-52), Youngstown State (62-47), Wright State (61-48) and Green Bay (68-56), the last two in the HL tournament
• The Titan defense has held teams to shooting 44.0 percent or less in 10 games on the year and under 40.0 percent on six occasions, including all three foes in the Horizon League (YSU - 37.5,  CSU - 38.6, WSU - 37.7)
• The NCAA record for 3-pointers by a freshman is 122 by Stephen Curry at Davidson in 2005-06
• In a memorable shoot-out the night of Feb. 22, 1988, Bradley All-American guard Hersey Hawkins established the Calihan Hall scoring record of 63 points, while Archie Tullos broke the all-time Titans scoring record with 49 points in a 122-107 contest
• Davis now has six 30-point games on the season, the most since Tony Tolbert's six in 1993-94
• Davis now has 78, 3-pointers on the year, one away from the school freshman record of 79 by Corey Allen in 2016-17, and ninth in school history
• Davis tied his own school record of 10 triples that he had against Loyola Maryland and Desmond Ferguson had against Milwaukee in 2000
• King was in double digits for the fourth-straight game
• Blackshear's eight rebounds was the most since he had nine against Loyola Maryland
• With his six rebounds, Hamrick is now averaging 8.3 rebounds in the past three games

Big win for the Titans as Davis ends with 48 points and 10 more 3-pointers and Detroit Mercy is 3-0 in the @HorizonLeague #DetroitsCollegeTeam #HLMBB pic.twitter.com/tzo6ln5B7V

— Detroit Mercy MBB (@DetroitMBB) January 4, 2019

 

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