GREEN BAY, Wisc. (2/11/2023) -- Graduate senior
Antoine Davis tallied back-to-back 40-points for the second time this season, and the Titans went on a 14-5 run in the second half to put the game away as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team defeated Green Bay, 76-71, on Saturday night.
Davis posted a game-high 41 points going 11-of-22 from the field and 8-of-15 from behind the arc to go with five rebounds and two assists. He passed Larry Bird (Indiana State, 1976-79 - 1,154) to move to ninth in NCAA history with 1,161 career field goals and now has 3,482 career points, 185 in back Pete Maravich's NCAA-record 3,667.
Graduate senior
A.J. Oliver had 15 points and six rebounds and senior
Gerald Liddell scored 13 points with six boards. Graduate senior
TJ Moss had two points, but a career-high eight assists and a career-tying six rebounds and two blocks.
The game was tied at 55-55 with 8:13 left in the game, but the Titans (11-16, 7-9 HL) went on a 14-5 run to take the lead for good. Graduate senior
Damezi Anderson started the rally with a three and then Davis went inside for an acrobatic layup.
After a basket by Green Bay (3-24, 2-14 HL), the Titans connected on 7-of-8 free throws and Moss' lone basket of the game gave the team a 69-60 lead with 2:37 on the clock. The Phoenix got within two, 71-69, with 58 seconds remaining, but the Titans sealed the win by hitting 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch.
Anderson had five points and six rebounds and junior
Kyle LeGreair added two boards, three assists and a steal.
The Titans shot 42.3% (22-of-52) and were 12-of-29 (41.4%) from three and 20-of-23 (87.0%) at the line. They also won the battle of the boards, 36-32.
Green Bay got off to a quick start and led by 11, 28-17, with 8:13 left when the Titans went on a 12-0 run, courtesy of four 3-pointers from Davis. His last triple gave the Titans a 29-28 lead with 4:13 remaining.
Green Bay took a 31-28 lead, but Liddell's jumper tied the contest at 31-all at the 3:26 mark. Another jumper from Liddel had Detroit Mercy down by two, 35-33, but the Phoenix took a 37-33 lead at the break.
Detroit Mercy took the lead in the second half as Davis buried two-straight 3-pointers for a 42-40 advantage. Green Bay came back to take the lead on three occasions and the game was also tied three times when Oliver nailed one from the outside off an assist from Moss and then Moss found Liddell inside for a slam and a 51-47 lead at the 10:28 mark.
Later on, four-straight free throws from Davis had the team ahead, 55-53, but the Phoenix would tie it one last time at 55-all.
The Titans will have one last regular season road game left as the red, white and blue travel to #MetroSeries rival Oakland on Friday in a 7:00 p.m. tip.
Game Notes:
- The Titans have now won five of the last six, but trail the all-time series, 35-31 and are 9-21 on the road
- The Titans have nailed 102 triples in the last nine games and have now connected on double-digit 3-pointers in 16 games and stand first in the Horizon League and ninth in the nation at 39.0% from three, as well as first in the HL and eighth in the country with 10.3 per game
- Detroit Mercy has now outrebounded its opponents in 14 of the last 19 games and 18 times on the season
- The Titans have now connected on double-digit free throws in 18 games on the season and have made at least 20 in three of the last four games as they are third in the Horizon League and 30th in the nation in free-throw percentage at 75.9%
- The Titans are fourth in the HL and 87th in the nation averaging just 11.7 turnovers and have eight games on the season with less than 10 turnovers
- Head coach Mike Davis now has 408 career wins, 143rd in DI NCAA history and one behind Howard Cann and Danny Nee for 142nd place.
- Davis came into the game averaging 26.7 points, 4.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds in nine games against Green Bay, shooting 45.0% overall and 36.8% from three
- Davis came into the game leading the nation in scoring at 27.2 points per game as he has finished top-four nationally in all four of his seasons
- The only Titan to ever lead the nation in a NCAA statistic was Spencer Haywood, who averaged 22.1 rebounds in 1968-69, while his current rate of 27.7 points would be the third highest in school history and the highest in HL history
- Davis now has 99 career 20-point games, 36 career 30-point outings and eight 40-point contests in 138 games - reaching 17 points in 120 of them
- Davis became the first Titan to ever register back-to-back 40-point games when he had 41 against RMU and 42 at IUPUI, the first player to do it at DI since Marquette's Markus Howard had 40 against Davidson and 51 versus USC on Nov. 28 and 29, 2019, as he now has back-to-back 40-point games for the second time this season coming off his season-tying 42 at Milwaukee
- Davis is now ninth in NCAA history with 1,161 career field goals, 15 behind Otis Birdsong (Houston, 1973-77 - 1,176)
- Davis comes into the game third all-time in NCAA history with 4.01, three-point field goals per game and leading the nation this year at 4.65 per contest
- Davis has now made a three in 133 of his 138 collegiate games, with 76 career games with four or more triples, 31 with six or more, 16 games with seven or more, and has five times connected on 10 or more
- Davis' 129 triples on the season are third in school history, three shy of career single-season best of 132 as a freshman for second and seven away from the Titan record of 136 by Rashad Phillips in 2000-01
- Liddell had 19 points and 11 rebounds against Green Bay in the first meeting
- Liddell has now scored in double figures in 14 of his 17 games
- Anderson now has 16 games with four or more rebounds, with a career-high nine against Rochester and at Cleveland State
- Moss has now handed out at least three assists 14 times on the season and has nine games with five or more rebounds, including tying his career high for the fifth time with six boards
- Moss' previous career high in assists was seven against Arkansas in 2021
- Oliver has now scored in double figures in eight games on the year, with his season-high of 18 against Oakland
