YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (1/29/2023) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team raced out to a double-digit lead, but Youngstown State withstood the charge as the Titans fell to the Penguins, 73-63, on the road on Sunday afternoon.
Graduate senior
Antoine Davis led the team with 15 points and six assists. He upped his career point total to 3,332, 335 shy of Pete Maravich's NCAA record 3,667, as he was in double figures for the 134th time, one away from the NCAA record for most career games in double figures.
Graduate senior
Damezi Anderson scored 14 points with four rebounds and three assists and senior
Gerald Liddell tallied nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Liddell and Anderson started the scoring early as back-to-back baskets had the Titans (8-15, 4-8 HL) up 6-2. After a YSU (17-6, 9-3 HL) basket, Davis hit one from three for a 9-4 advantage, and off an offensive rebound by Liddell, graduate senior
A.J. Oliver scored and it was an 11-5 score just four minutes in.
The Penguins would cut the lead to two, but graduate senior
TJ Moss nailed a three for an 18-13 lead at the 12:42 mark, and then he had another basket to put the Titans up by five again at 20-15 midway through the half.
Youngstown State got within three, 23-20, but the red, white and blue scored six in a row to extend the advantage to nine, 29-20, as Davis had two buckets and Oliver added another. The lead would go to 10, 33-23, with 3:15 remaining as Oliver hit one from three and was fouled, connecting on the bonus free throw, and the Titans went into the break up 33-25.
At the start of the second half, Oliver had an offensive rebound and that led to Davis finding Anderson for a triple and a 36-25 lead. The largest lead was matched on the next possession as Davis knocked one in from distance and it was 39-28 with 17:51 on the clock.
The Penguins came back with seven-straight points until graduate senior
Buay Koka slammed one in to keep the Titans in front, 41-35. The Titans tried to stave off YSU's comeback, but the home team eventually climbed on top, 47-46, with 11:37 left, and increased the lead with a 15-2 spurt.
A three by Anderson had the team down by just five, 54-49, with 7:12 remaining, but the Penguins went on another run to take their largest advantage of 65-49. The Titans would claw back to a 10-point deficit, 67-57, with just under two minutes to go by hitting some free throws and made it a nine-point contest at 69-60 as Davis found Anderson for another three with 1:24 left.
Moss had nine points and Oliver ended with eight points and four rebounds.
The Titans outrebounded the Penguins, 39-30, on the day.
Detroit Mercy will return home to host Cleveland State on Thursday, Feb. 2, at historic Calihan Hall. Tickets start at just $10 and can be
purchased here.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy still leads the overall series, 40-15, and is 17-9 all-time at the Beeghly Center
- Detroit Mercy has outrebounded its opponents in 10 of the last 15 games and 14 times on the season
- The Titans had at least 15 assists for the fourth-straight game and the seventh time on the year
- The Titans came into the contest third in the HL and 60th in the nation averaging just 11.5 turnovers per game
- Davis extended his NCAA record to 134-straight games and now trails the NCAA all-time mark for double figures by one, held by Creighton's Doug McDermott (2010-14) at 135
- Davis extended his NCAA three-point record to 534
- Davis holds the school record for free-throw percentage at 89.0% (568-of-638), seventh among active players and tied for 21st all-time in NCAA history as he has currently made 13 straight, 474 of last 49 and 64 of his last 67
- Davis now has 555 career assists, eight out of third place and 59 behind the school record of 615 by Kevin McAdoo
- Liddell's nine rebounds were the most since pulling down 11 against Green Bay
- Liddell now has at least two steals in seven games on the season
- Anderson has now scored in double figures in four-straight games and 13 on the year
- Anderson now has at least three 3-pointers in 10 games on the year
- Anderson has handed out 12 assists in the last four games after having 12 through the first 18
