DETROIT (11/16/2022) -- The Titans were red hot all game long as four players finished in double figures, led by graduate senior
Antoine Davis' game-high 28 points, as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team raced past Ohio, 88-74, on Wednesday night on Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall.
Davis was 8-of-19 from the field and 5-of-12 from behind the arc to go with four rebounds, three steals and two assists. He moved to 18th in NCAA history with 2,805 points and ran his consecutive games in double figures to 114-straight, second in NCAA history and one behind the record.
Graduate senior
Damezi Anderson had 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting with three 3-pointers along with four rebounds. Junior
Jayden Stone posted 15 points, five boards and two assists and senior
Jordan Phillips netted 13 points, three rebounds and two assists.
The Titans (2-1) shot a blistering season-high 51.7% overall (30-of-58) and were 11-of-26 (42.3%) from three and 17-of-21 (81.0%) at the free throw line.
Ohio (1-2) scored the first six points and led 12-11 six minutes into the game when the Titans took control with a 23-4 offensive spurt over the next eight minutes. Detroit Mercy was 9-of-13 from the field and 5-of-7 from behind the arc in that run and held the Bobcats to just 2-of-8 shooting with six turnovers.
Anderson started it with a jumper and then came up with a block, which led to a three of his, and it was 16-12. The next time down the floor, Davis would bury one from distance for a 19-12 advantage at the 12:42 mark. Later on, Anderson, Stone and back-to-back triples by Phillips pushed the advantage to 34-16 with 6:44 left in the half.
Detroit Mercy would increase the lead to 20 on a few occasions after that, including 40-20 after a basket by Davis with 4:07 on the clock, and went into the break up 47-34.
In the second half, Ohio trimmed the lead to 10, but a three from Anderson had the squad back up by 13, 50-37. Detroit Mercy then put the game away with a 13-0 charge to extend the advantage to 24, 65-41, with 15:02 left as Davis had eight points in that run. The red, white and blue would lead by as many as 25, 72-47, midway through the period as Stone nailed a jumper and Phillips knocked one down from three.
The Bobcats would go on a late run to cut it to a nine-point lead, 81-72, but the Titans went 7-of-8 at the line in the final 90 seconds to seal the victory.
Graduate senior
A.J. Oliver ended the contest with six points and a team-high six rebounds, while graduate senior
TJ Moss had five points and a team-high four assists. Graduate senior
Arashma Parks scored six points and graduate senior
Buay Koka pulled down five boards.
Detroit Mercy will now get on a plane to the Sunshine State for the Paradise Invitational this weekend as the Titans play host Florida Atlantic on Saturday and Bryant at FAU on Monday.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy ended a four-game slide to Ohio as the Bobcats now lead the series, 4-2, with the Titans' other win in 1971
- Detroit Mercy is 184-124 all-time against the MAC
- The Titans have hit double-digit 3-pointers in all three games this season
- Detroit Mercy shot over 50.0% from the field six times last year
- The Titans have won 18 of their last 19 at home, with the lone blemish coming in an 81-78 loss to Purdue Fort Wayne late last season
- The 17 free throws were the most since making 18 at Cleveland State last year
- Davis had 33 at Ohio as a sophomore
- Davis was named one of the top 50 candidates for the Wooden Award for the nation's best player on Tuesday
- Davis passed Kevin Bradshaw (Bethune-Cookman) and Allan Houston (Tennessee) to move into 18th place all-time in NCAA in scoring and is just 27 points behind Otis Birdsong (Houston, 1973-77-2,832) for 17th place and 109 away from Loyola's Alfredrick Hughes for the all-time lead in the Horizon League
- Davis now has 441 career 3-pointers, three away from Chris Clemons (Campbell, 2015-19) for sixth in NCAA history and 67 behind Fletcher Magee's NCAA record of 509
- Davis now has 79 career 20-point games, 26 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in 114 collegiate games - reaching at least 17 points in 94 of them - and has scored in double figures in 114-straight games, third in NCAA history and one behind Chris Clemons (Campbell, 2015-2019) and Lionel Simmons (La Salle, 1987-90) for the all-time NCAA record
- Davis came into the game fifth all-time in NCAA history with 3.87, three-point field goals per game and has now connected on a 3-pointer in 48-straight games and 110 of his 114 collegiate games with 62 career games with four or more triples, 22 with six or more, 10 games with seven or more, and has thrice connected on 10 in his career, tying a school record as well as breaking a conference tournament record
- Anderson and Stone have all been in double figures in all three games
- Oliver's career-high in rebounds was 12 against Texas San Antonio
