DETROIT (1/30/2025) -- Four Titans scored in double figures and they started the second half with a bang as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team downed NKU, 68-57, on Thursday night.
Junior
Orlando Lovejoy tallied 19 points with four rebounds, two assists and a block. Freshman
TJ Nadeau added 17 points and seven rebounds and junior
Legend Geeter posted 10 points and eight boards.
Detroit Mercy (7-16, 3-9 HL) led by nine at the break, but Nadeau hit three-straight triples to start the second half to open an 18-point lead and UDM fought off a couple of NKU (9-13, 4-7 HL) comeback attempts for the win.
The Titans were able to open up a nine-point lead with 4:18 remaining in the first half after a jumper by Lovejoy. The Norse tried to start a rally but went into the halftime break trailing 31-22.
UDM came out of the locker room and took a 37-22 lead following back-to-back threes by Nadeau, forcing an NKU timeout with 18:30 remaining. After Detroit Mercy went ahead 40-22, NKU responded with six straight points to cut the deficit to 12.
The visitors continued to chip away at the Titan lead, and got to within nine with 11:39 to go. After Detroit Mercy went ahead 56-44 with 7:08 remaining, NKU hit back-to-back buckets to cut the Titan lead to just seven with 5:37 left.
A layup with 5:07 left got the Norse to within five points, but NKU was unable to get any closer from there as graduate senior
Emmanuel Kuac went inside for a layup and freshman
Chase Kuiper made a great cut to the rim for his first collegiate basket and a 60-52 lead. NKU hit a three to again make it a five-point game, but the defense forced the Norse into missing their last five shots and UDM ended the game on an 8-2 spurt for the win.
The Titans outrebounded NKU 43-35 and were 23-of-53 from the field (43.4%) and 17-of-19 (89.5%) from the charity stripe. The defense had a season-high eight blocks, three by freshman
Ryan Kalambay, and held NKU to 30.2% shooting (19-of-63) and 4-of-27 (14.8%) from distance.
Kuac finished with 10 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Kalambay pulled down six rebounds and handed out three assists and freshman
Nate Johnson had eight points and three rebounds.
UDM will remain at home to host Green Bay on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 1:00 PM inside Calihan Hall.
Game Notes:
- The Titans ended a five-game slide in the series, but NKU still leads the all-time match-up at 16-6
- The Titans had a double-digit lead for the first time since their win at Eastern Michigan
- UDM's 68 points was the most since it won 78-76 over Robert Morris in overtime on Jan. 2, while the 57 points allowed was the fewest since the 91-52 season-open victory over Cleary and the fewest in HL play since beating Purdue Fort Wayne, 85-52, in 2023
- The 19 field goals allowed was the fewest since Ball State had 17 earlier this season and the least in conference play since the Mastodons were 19-of-56 in that 2023 game
- UDM came into the game 11th in the HL and 342nd in DI connecting on 5.5 per game and 11th in the conference, and 349th in the country with just 16.3 attempts per game
- Detroit Mercy is currently third in the HL in three-point field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 31.9% from distance
- UDM had just 15 free throws combined in the last two games, while it was the 16th time this season Detroit Mercy has made double digits at the line
- Detroit Mercy's eight blocks were the most since swatting nine against IUPUI on Jan. 23, 2020
- Lovejoy has scored in double figures in 16 games as well as grabbing at least three rebounds in 19 games
- Lovejoy came into the game hitting 83.3% at the line, second in the Horizon League
- Geeter was in double figures for the eighth time this season and the first since netting 10 against Robert Morris, while his eight boards was the most since grabbing eight in the home game versus Wright State
- Kuac was in double figures for the first time since his 16-point outing against RMU
- Nadeau has scored in double figures six times this season, netted at least seven points in 15 of the 23 games, and also has at least four boards in nine games
- Nadeau's seven rebounds were the third most on the season after his nine at Wake Forest and eight at Purdue Fort Wayne
- Nadeau had just 3-pointers in the last five games
- Johnson has 20 games with three or more rebounds
- Kalambay has seven blocks in the last four games
- After posting just 46 rebounds in his first 19 games, Kalambay has 31 boards in the last four
- Kuiper registered his first collegiate basket in the game
