MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (1/27/2023) -- Three Titans scored in double figures, led by graduate senior
Antoine Davis' game-high 29 points, but it was not enough as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team fell 85-77 at Robert Morris on Friday night.
Davis was 10-of-21 with nine 3-pointers to go with four steals, three rebounds and two assists. He now has 3,317 career points, 350 shy of Pete Maravich's NCAA record 3,667, and extended his NCAA three-point record to 532.Â
Senior
Gerald Liddell had 16 points and seven rebounds, while graduate senior
Damezi Anderson scored 13 points with six boards and a career-best four assists.Â
Detroit Mercy (8-14, 4-7 HL) led 33-32 at halftime, but Robert Morris (10-12, 5-6 HL) took a lead early in the second half with two free throws. The game was tied three times in the second half, the first when Liddell split a pair of free throws and Davis knocked one down from three to make it 37-37 just two minutes in.Â
RMU would take a six-point lead, 45-39, when Anderson made one from distance to cut the deficit in half and later on, a Davis steal led to a layup from junior
Kyle LeGreair and the team was down just one, 47-46. The Colonials led by six again, 55-49, when Liddell made 1-of-2 at the line, Davis rang in a three and Oliver finished a layup off a pass from Davis to knot it at 55-all with 10:21 remaining.
The Titans would find themselves trailing by five, 66-61, at the 6:17 mark, but a jumper from Oliver and then a steal by Liddell led to a layup and it was just a one-point contest, 66-65, with 5:20 to go.
It was a one-possession game on two other occasions as two free throws from Liddell made it 70-67 and then a three from Anderson had the red, white and blue behind 73-70 with 4:06 left but that was as close as the Titans would get.
Graduate senior
Buay Koka ended with a season-high six points and two rebounds and graduate senior
TJ Moss posted a career-tying six boards. LeGreair posted four points, a team-high and career-tying five assists, four rebounds, a block and a steal, while Oliver had four points and three caroms.Â
The Titans shot 46.8% (29-of-62) from the field and were 13-of-28 (46.4%) from behind the arc with 15 assists. They also outrebounded the Colonials, 34-29, and forced 14 turnovers with eight steals.Â
After Liddell scored the first basket, RMU went on a 10-2 run until he ended that with a free throw. Davis then nailed three-straight 3-pointers for a 12-10 lead. After the Colonials scored to end the 10-0 run, Davis hit another from distance before Liddell went inside for a score before another three from Davis gave the team a 20-12 advantage with 8:25 left.
A layup by Moss had the Titans up 22-15 at the 6:25 mark and Anderson increased the margin back to eight, 25-17, with a trey with 5:39 on the clock. Davis' sixth three of the first half had the team in front 28-22 and sophomore
Jamail Pink connected from the outside for a 31-27 lead as the red, white and blue was ahead 33-32 at the break.Â
The Titans will be back in action on Sunday as they visit Youngstown State in a 2:00 p.m. tip.Â
Game Notes:Â
- The Titans lead the overall series, 6-1, and are 1-1 on the road.Â
- Detroit Mercy has outrebounded its opponents in nine of the last 14 games and 13 times on the seasonÂ
- The red, white and blue have now nailed 54 triples in the last four games and have now connected on double-digit 3-pointers in 14 games on the year
- Davis hit a school-record 11, 3-pointers against RMU two weeks ago and a Horizon league tournament record 10 triples in 2021
- Davis extended his NCAA record for consecutive games in double figures to 133 and now trails the NCAA all-time record for most games in double figures by two, trailing Creighton's Doug McDermott (2010-14) at 135.Â
- Davis now has 95 career 20-point games, 32 career 30-point outings and six 40-point contests in 133 games - reaching 17 points in 116 of them
- Davis came into the game fourth all-time in NCAA history with 3.96, three-point field goals per game and has now made a three in 128 of his 133 collegiate games, with 73 career games with four or more triples, 28 with six or more, 14 games with seven or more, and has five times connected on 10 or more
- Davis passed Rashad Phillips '02 for fourth place in school history with 549 career assists and is now 66 in back of Kevin McAdoo's '86 school-record 615
- Liddell has now been in double figures in scoring 12 times out of his 13 games
- Anderson has now scored in double figures in 12 games on the year and also has 13 games with four or more rebounds
- Koka's six points were the most since netting six at Oakland in 2021
- Pink's onky other field goal was against Green Bay in 2021
- LeGreair tallied five assists for the fourth time in his career and the second time this season as he also had five against RMU two weeks ago
- Moss has pulled down six rebounds four times this season
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