INDIANAPOLIS (1/21/2023) -- Graduate senior Antoine Davis moved into second place all-time in NCAA history in scoring with a season-high 42 points and the Titans put a back-and-forth game away with a 14-0 run as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team surged past IUPUI, 89-77, on Saturday afternoon.

The nation's leading scorer, Davis tied his career-high by going 16-of-30 from the field and 8-of-18 from three with five assists. He is the first Titan in school history to record back-to-back 40-point games as he moved to second all-time in NCAA history with 3,274 points - 393 behind Pete Maravich's NCAA-record 3,667 - and extended his NCAA record in 3-pointers to 521. 

Graduate senior Damezi Anderson scored a career-high 20 points with a team-high seven rebounds, three assists and three steals as he was 5-of-8 overall, 3-of-5 from behind the line and a perfect 7-of-7 at the line. Graduate senior TJ Moss had 11 points, five helpers and two assists and junior Kyle LeGreair added three points, three rebounds, two assists and a career-high five steals. 

Detroit Mercy (8-12, 4-5 HL) trailed IUPUI (3-18, 0-10 HL) 65-64 with eight minutes left when the Titans went on a 14-0 run over the next five minutes to pull away. Davis started the spurt with back-to-back baskets before graduate senior A.J. Oliver nailed a three. Davis and Anderson followed with back-to-back trifectas - the one by Davis pushing him past 40 points - as the Titans took a 78-65 lead with just over three minutes left.

Davis added one more basket in the final three minutes and the Titans hit 9-of-10 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Oliver ended with nine points and five rebounds and freshman Marcus Tankersley had four points. 

Detroit Mercy shot 52.7% overall (29-of-55) - 60.9% in the second half (14-of-23) - and was 16-of-33 (48.5%) from behind the line and 15-of-18 (83.3%) at the charity stripe. The Titans also had a season-best 10 steals and forced a season-tying 20 turnovers.

Both teams came out shooting, combining for 77 points in the first half, with Davis leading the way with 25. IUPUI had a 5-0 lead when Davis scored with a floater and LeGreair hit a 3-pointer. Davis would then add a three of his own to knot it at 8-8.

The Titans trailed 10-8 when they scored seven in a row as Davis had four points and Oliver went to the rim for a score and was fouled, hitting the free throw. A three by Anderson ran the advantage to six, 18-12, at the 11:34 mark and the Titans led by nine, 25-16, as Davis had a layup and then nailed a three with 9:22 left.

The Jaguars started to come back and trimmed it to one, 25-24, but Moss hit from distance with 7:11 on the clock. Davis drained a three for his 19th point to move into second place with 5:43 remaining as the Titans led 31-26. The game was then tied at 31-31 until Davis knocked in another three, and he hit his fifth trey of the half with under a minute to go as Detroit Mercy led 39-38 at the break. 

Anderson started the second half with a three, and later on, a three by Oliver had the team ahead, 47-41. A jumper from Anderson gave the Titans a 51-43 advantage at the 16:24 mark, but from there, IUPUI would chip away again, cutting it to one, 56-55, when Moss nailed a triple at 12:49, and again at 59-58, when Davis buried one from deep with 10 minutes to go. 

Davis would make two free throws as the red, white and blue was in front, 64-61, with 9:13 left, but the Jaguars scored four in a row to jump in front, 65-64. 

Titans will return home for the #MetroSeries as the red, white and blue host the Golden Grizzlies on Monday, Jan. 23, on Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and tickets start at just $10 and can be purchased here. 

Game Notes: 

• The Titans and Jaguars had never faced each other before IUPUI joined the Horizon League in 2018-19 as Detroit Mercy now leads the series, 6-2, including 4-2 on the road
• The Titans' bench attempted just one shot and had four points in the contest, all on free throws from Tankersley
• The Titans are now 6-0 when Davis scores 40 or more
• It is the fifth time this season the Titans have shot better than 50.0% from the field and the second time they have done it in back-to-back games as they accomplished that feat against Bryant and at home versus Charlotte
• The red, white and blue have made 33 triples in the last two games as they are second in the Horizon League and 28th in the nation at 38.3% from three, as well as second in the HL and ninth in the country with 10.3 per game
• The 15 free throws were the most since making 19 at Tulsa, and came into the game second in the league and 45th in the nation in free-throw percentage at 74.9%
• The 10 steals were the most since coming away with 10 at Cleveland State last season, while the 20 forced turnovers tied a season-high with the 20 Purdue Fort Wayne had in December 
• Davis came into the game tallying 27.2 points, 5.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds in four career games against IUPUI and had one of his 40-point games with 43 on the road as a sophomore
• Davis is now four games away from the NCAA record for the most total games in double figures (Creighton's Doug McDermott, 2010-14, at 135)
• Davis now has 1,097 total field goals, three in back of Hersey Hawkins (Bradley, 1984-88 - 1,100) for 14th place
• Davis now has 94 career 20-point games, 32 career 30-point outings and six 40-point contests in 131 games - reaching 17 points in 115 of them - and now has a league-best 17, 20-point games, six 30-point outings and a pair of 40-point outings 
• Davis came into the game fifth all-time in NCAA history with 3.94, three-point field goals per game and has now made a three in 126 of his 131 collegiate games, with 72 career games with four or more triples, 27 with six or more, 13 games with seven or more, and has five times connected on 10 or more with the school-record 11 against Robert Morris
• Davis now has 538 career assists, 10 shy of Rashad Phillips for fourth in school history and 77 behind Kevin McAdoo school-record 615 as he is just the second player in NCAA history to amass 3,000 points and 500 assists, joining St. Peter's Keydren Clark (2002-06)
• Davis and Anderson are the second Titans to score 20 in the same game as Davis and Gerald Liddell did it at Tulsa and against Youngstown State 
• Anderson has now scored in double figures in nine games on the year and also has 11 games with four or more rebounds, with a career-high nine against Rochester and at Cleveland State
• Anderson's previous high in points was 17 against Rochester in the season opener
• LeGreair's career high in steals was two on seven occasions as the last Titan to have five steals in a game was Madut Akec, who had five at Louisville
• Moss has now handed out at least three assists 10 times on the season 
• Moss is now tallying 7.5 points, 3.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds in his last eight games after posting 4.0 points, 1.8 assists and 2.3 rebounds in his first 12

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