YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (1/30/2021) -- The Titan defense held Youngstown State scoreless in the final 2:34 and hit all eight free throws in the final 1:20 as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team came back to down the Penguins, 77-72, on Saturday night.

The win gave the Titans the weekend sweep as they have now won three in a row and five of the last six games to move to 6-8 overall and 5-5 in the Horizon League. 

Junior Antoine Davis led all scorers with 24 points -- his sixth-straight game with at least 20 points -- and he also had six rebounds and a team-high five assists. With his 24 points, he crossed into the 1,800-point plateau and now has 1,809 points in his Titan career. Senior Dwayne Rose Jr. tallied a season-high 17 points with three boards and two steals and graduate senior Marquell Fraser netted 14 points with four rebounds and two helpers, hitting all six shots from the floor. 

In a game that featured 14 lead changes and six ties, Youngstown State (8-10, 4-10 HL) led by five, 64-59, with 6:29 left when the Titans went on an 8-0 run as graduate senior Bul Kuol nailed back-to-back 3-pointers and Davis got inside for a score to give the team a 67-64 lead with just over 5 minutes to go.

The game would be tied at 69-69 before YSU took a three-point advantage, 72-69, with 2:34 remaining. That is when the defense came up huge holding the Penguins to 0-of-5 from the field with two turnovers the rest of the way. 

The Titans were held without a field goal in their final 3:34 of play, but Rose Jr. was 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the final 1:20 and Davis also hit a pair of free throws as the red, white and blue gutted out the road win.

Kuol ended with eight points, seven rebounds and two assists and he forced a key YSU turnover with 25 seconds to go and the Titans only up by one. Senior Matt Johnson added eight points, junior Willy Isiani had six points and three rebounds and junior Chris Brandon pulled down six caroms. 

The Titans shot over 50% from the floor again at 51.8% (29-of-56) with seven 3-pointers and were also 12-of-16 at the free-throw line (75.0%) as they hit 12 of their last 13 at the charity stripe. 

Detroit Mercy will now return home for a pair of games against Purdue Fort Wayne next weekend, Feb. 5-6, with some updated game times as Friday's contest will tip at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday at 5:00 p.m. 

First Half:

• The Titans scored the game's first five points on a Fraser layup and a 3-pointer from Rose Jr. 
• Davis and Fraser then had back-to-back baskets for a 9-4 lead just four minutes in
• The Penguins went on a 6-0 run to briefly take the lead, 11-0, but the red, white and blue responded with seven-straight points as Davis had a jumper and a three and Johnson's bucket at 11:30 put the team ahead 16-10
• The Titans would later push the lead to six and then to eight, 29-21, with 6:25 left as Fraser, Kuol and Johnson were all able to hit from the field
• Youngstown State was able to chop that down to two, 32-30, with 4:08 remaining
• Rose Jr. had back-to-back baskets to end that spurt and Isiani was able to get inside for a score as time was winding down and the team lead 38-34 at the break
• The Titans shot 58.6% from the field in the first 20 minutes and were 4-of-8 from three

Second Half:

• Youngstown State tied the game at 38-38 and then hit a three to take a 41-40 lead
• Neither team would lead by more than three for the next six minutes
• The titans scored six-straight to jump in front, 55-52, with 11:46 left as Johnson and Rose Jr had baskets and off a stop, Johnson hit a jumper for the three-point advantage
• The Penguins regained the lead, but Fraser put the squad back on top on a three-point play as he drove to the rim for the score and his free throw made it 57-56 with 8:56 on the clock
• Two free throws by Davis had the Titans up by one, 59-58, but Youngstown State scored six in a row to lead by five, 64-59, with 6:29 to go
• The Titans answered with an 8-0 run as Kuol buried back-to-back 3-pointers and Davis went inside for a score and the red, white and blue surged ahead, 67-64, with 5:13 left
• Isiani was able to get inside for a score off a pass from Davis for a 69-66 lead with 3:34 to go, but that would be the last field goal the Titans would make
• YSU came right back with six in a row again for a 72-69 advantage with 2:34 left
• The defense then held YSU scoreless down the stretch as the Penguins missed all five shots with two turnovers
• Rose Jr. hit a pair of free throws with 1:20 on the clock to pull the team within one, 72-71, and then Davis stepped to the line for two free throws and the team led 73-72 with 43 seconds to go
• The Titans defense then forced a YSU turnover as Kuol's defense forced an errant pass
• Rose Jr. was fouled again and he hit two more free throws to extend the lead and he would come up with a steal with 12 ticks on the clock and hit two more from the line to seal the win

Game Notes:

• Detroit Mercy now leads the all-time series 40-12, including 17-7 all-time at the Beeghly Center
• The three-game winning streak by the Titans is the first since the 2018-19 season
• The Titans saw their streak of double-digit 3-pointers come to an end at five straight
• The Titans came into the game ninth in the nation and tops in the Horizon League in free throw percentage at 79.4%
• Detroit Mercy shot over 50.0% for the fifth time this season, all in the last seven games
• The Titans turned it over just eight times for the second-straight game, one-off their season-low seven at Notre Dame earlier in the year
• Davis has reached at least 20 points in six straight game and the 52nd time in his career (in 74 total games)
• With his 24 points, Davis now has 1,809 points, moving into 25th in Horizon League history in scoring and passing the likes of Butler's A.J. Graves (1,807), Xavier's Anthony Hicks (1,805), J'Nathan Bullock of Cleveland State (1,800) and Milwaukee's Clay Tucker (1,788)
• Rose Jr. was in double figures in scoring for the fourth-straight game and is averaging 14.7 points on 62.1% shooting from the field (23-of-37) during that span
• Fraser was in double digits for the seventh time this season and the first time in four games, while his 17 points was just shy of his season-high 19 against Wright State
• The eight points was the most by Isiani since he scored eight at Western Michigan