CLEVELAND (2/12/2021) -- Junior Antoine Davis posted a season-high 35 points and sophomore Noah Waterman connected on a trio of 3-pointers in the final three minutes as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team downed first-place Cleveland State, 89-83, on Friday night in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU.

The win was the sixth in a row and the eighth in the last nine games for the Titans, who are now 9-8 overall and 8-5 in the Horizon League, while the loss was just the second at home for the Vikings, who fall to 14-6 overall and 14-3 in conference place. 

Davis was 9-of-21 from the field with four 3-pointers and a perfect 13-of-13 at the free-throw line to go with six rebounds and a team-high six assists and three steals. His 35 points gave him 1,900 in his Titan career.

Waterman posted 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting, all from behind the arc, with five rebounds and two blocks, while graduate senior Bul Kuol ended with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Detroit Mercy built a 22-point lead in the first half, but Cleveland State was able to cut that down to a pair of ties in the final six minutes, 63-63 and 65-65. Davis was able to answer both times to make sure the Vikings never took the lead as he scored six-straight Titan points to give the team a 69-65 lead with 4:09 left.

Davis then created a few scoring opportunities as he twice fed Waterman in the corner for triples, the first extending the Titan lead to seven, 74-67, with three minutes to go and the second with 1:14 remaining for a 79-71 advantage.
 

Head coach Mike Davis, sophomore Noah Waterman and junior Antoine Davis shared some thoughts after the Titans 89-83 road win at first-place Cleveland State #DetroitsCollegeTeam #HLMBB pic.twitter.com/7x9fZcOw4p

— Detroit Mercy MBB (@DetroitMBB) February 13, 2021

Cleveland State was able to trim that to a three-point contest, 82-79, but Waterman again hit from downtown to raise that to a six-point lead, 85-79 with 23 seconds remaining, and Davis finished the game off with four free throws.

Junior Chris Brandon had a season-high nine points and grabbed six boards with two steals and senior Matt Johnson scored five points.

Detroit Mercy shot 47.4% for the game, including 13-of-26 from three, and was 22-of-27 at the line. The Titans had the edge in rebounding, 35-34, and forced 14 turnovers. 

The two teams will meet again tomorrow with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN App. 

First Half:

• Both defenses were on display as the Titans started the game 1-of-8 and Cleveland State 2-of-8 as CSU led 5-3 just four minutes in
• The Vikings led 7-5 at 14:41 when the Titans went on a 12-0 run to jump out in front 17-7
• Kuol started it with a layup off an offensive rebound and then Davis nailed a triple
• Brandon and graduate senior Marquell Fraser both went inside for a score and off a turnover, Johnson hit a three at the 12:35 mark
• After the Vikings scored, Detroit Mercy extended its lead on a 14-4 run to go up by 18, 31-13, with just under seven minutes left
• That started with four free throws from Davis and Johnson and Waterman knocked down a pair of triples in that stretch
• Kuol nailed a trey with 6:19 left to get the lead to 19, 34-25, and then Davis hit two free throws as he was fouled on one possession and after CSU missed a free throw, he came down and sank a triple for a 39-17 cushion with 5:15 remaining
• The Vikings were able to go on a run and trim the lead to 13, but Davis was able to connect from long range with under a minute to go and the red, white and blue led at the half, 46-30
• The Titans shot 42.9% (15-of-35) in the first half and were 8-of-18 from three (44.4%) with just three turnovers, while Cleveland State shot 36.7% (11-of-30) and was 2-of-13 from three with nine turnovers

Second Half:

• Cleveland State started the half on an 8-0 run as Brandon ended that with a dunk
• CSU would cut the lead to five, 48-43, when Davis hit a jumper with 15:35 left
• Davis then hit a three and was fouled, connecting on the free throw for a four-point play to bump the lead back to double digits, 54-44, with just over 15 minutes remaining
• Kuol also nailed a triple to once again make it a 10-point game, 57-47, with 14:06 left, and then a three-point play by junior Willy Isiani on a bucket and free throw had the Titans up 60-50 with 13:04 on the clock
• The Vikings would come back with an 8-2 spurt to cut the lead to four, 62-58, with 7:43 left
• Detroit Mercy would lose the lead twice - but never trail - as the game was tied at 63-63 and 65-65, but both times, Davis answered with baskets as the Titans went up by four, 69-65, with 4:09 showing
• After a CSU basket, Brandon got inside for a layup and then Waterman knocked down a three for a 74-67 lead with 3:01 left
• Waterman would hit another triple to extend the lead to eight, 79-71, with 1:14 remaining
• Cleveland State would make it a one-possession game at 82-79, but back came Waterman as he made another from distance with just 23 ticks on the clock
•  Davis would then end the night making four free throws for the win

Game Notes:

• The Titans lead the overall match-up, 45-26, and are now 14-19 on the road
• The win was the sixth in a row, the longest winning streak since a 10-game run in 2003-04, which included eight-straight conference wins and another two in the HL Tournament
• Meanwhile, the 8-1 mark in their last nine games is the best since a 10-1 stretch at the end of the 2011-12 season
• The Titans have connected on double-digit 3-pointers in seven of their last eight games and eight times this season, actually, all eight times have been in the last 10 games
• Detroit Mercy came into the game leading the HL and 16th in DI with 9.9 triples per game, while it's 38.3% from behind the arc was second in the league and 25th in the country
• Detroit Mercy also came into the game leading the HL and sixth in the nation in free-throw shooting hitting 79.8% on the year
• Coming into the contest in four career games against Cleveland State, Davis averaged 19.5 points on 27.1% shooting (23-of-85) and 15.4% from three (6-of-39), while in the two road games, he was averaging 16.0 ppg., shooting 25.5% (12-of-47) from the field and 18.1% (4-of-22) from behind the arc
• Davis has now scored 24 or more in nine-straight games with four 30-point performances in that time
• Davis now has 55 career 20-point games, 19 career 30-point outings and three 40-point contests in just 77 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 77 games - reaching at least 17 points in 62 of them.
• He is now 23rd all-time in scoring in the Horizon League at 1,865 points, while his 24.5 points per game is third all-time. 
• Davis now has 1,900 career points and is 85 shy of Dave DeBusschere '62 for third place in school history, while his 1,900 points is 20th in Horizon League history
• Davis now has 292 career 3-pointers, fourth in HL history as he passed Valparaiso's Alec Peters (289) and Wright State's Grant Benzinger (291)
• Kuol has now posted double digits in scoring 14 times with four 20-point outings, while his eight boards was one shy of his collegiate high of nine at Oakland
• Waterman has now been in double figures five times this season with his career-high of 19 against Oakland at home
• Waterman's five 3-pointers was a career-best by one over the four he had at Oakland
• Brandon is averaging 7.3 points in his last three games after tallying 2.6 in his first nine