CLEVELAND (12/6/2025) -- Sophomore TJ Nadeau tallied a career-high 26 points and senior Orlando Lovejoy added 17 points as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team downed Cleveland State, 71-59, on Saturday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

The win was the third straight for the Titans, their longest winning streak since the 2022-23 season, when they won three straight twice. It was also the first conference road triumph since they won at Oakland in the final road game that season. Meanwhile, the last 2-0 start in league play was in 2018-19, when UDM won its first three in conference play.

Nadeau was 9-of-14 from the field and 4-of-5 from three and at the line, while grabbing five rebounds. Lovejoy was 7-of-11 shooting with six assists and two steals, and senior Legend Geeter tied his season-high with seven points and had a season-best nine rebounds and five assists.

UDM (4-6, 2-0 HL) saw Cleveland State (3-8, 0-2 HL) jump out in front, 16-9, when the Titans answered back with 10 in a row, ending with a steal from Lovejoy that led to a layup from Nadeau and a 19-16 lead.

The game was then tied at 22-22 at the 5:31 mark when Detroit Mercy took the lead for good on the strength of an 8-0 run, heading into the locker room up 36-31 as Geeter threw a pass the length of the court to find Lovejoy for a layup as time expired.

The Titans ran their lead to double digits early in the second half as redshirt freshman Tyler Spratt had an offensive rebound and putback followed by a jumper from Lovejoy and a triple from Nadeau, giving the team a 43-33 advantage.

CSU once again made a run, cutting the margin in half at 47-42 with 11:59 left, but UDM responded with a 13-0 spurt over the next five minutes for its biggest lead of 18, 60-42. Nadeau started it with a jumper and had six points in that stretch, while the defense held the Vikings to 0-of-5 shooting and three turnovers.

Detroit Mercy would seal the victory with baskets from sophomore Ryan Kalambay and freshman Lance Stone in the last two minutes.

Junior London Maiden ended with seven points and two rebounds, and Kalambay grabbed four boards and had a career-tying two blocks. Stone had six points, and Spratt finished with four points, three assists, and two steals.

The Titans shot 44.8% from the field (26-of-58) and 73.7% (14-of-19) at the line, committing a season-low six turnovers. The defense limited the Vikings to just 31.0% (18-of-58) from the field and forced them into 13 miscues.

The Titans will have the week off for finals, returning to action on Sunday, Dec. 14, when they play at Purdue Fort Wayne. 

• The Titans ended a four-game slide in the series as they now lead the all-time match-up at 48-33, and are 15-24 on the road
• Detroit Mercy is now 15-31 all-time in Horizon League road openers
• Junior Ayden Carter missed the game with an injury and is considered day-to-day
• The 59 points allowed were the fewest since beating NKU last season at home, 68-57, while the last time the Titans held a team under 60 on the road was the 70-59 win at Ball State last year
• Spratt is a transfer from Cleveland State, but did not play in any games with them last year
• It was the third straight game with fewer than 10 turnovers for the Titans
• Nadeau's previous career high was 24 earlier this year at Notre Dame, and it was also his third career 20-point effort, all on the road
• Nadeau has now scored in double figures 17 times in his career and 12 times in his last 20 outings
• Lovejoy came into the game with a 2.5-1 assists-to-turnover ratio and now has 987 career points
• Lovejoy now has at least two steals in six of his nine games, scored in double figures in 46 career games, and has dished out five or more assists in 17 career games
• Geeter's career high in rebounds is 10 against Winthrop as a member of Eastern Michigan in 2022-23, while his career high in assists is six last season at Youngstown State
• Geeter now has 31 career games with at least five rebounds
• After starting the year 3-of-13 shooting, Maiden has made 23-of-37 (62.1%) from the floor and is averaging 8.9 points in the last seven games
• Kalambay also had two blocks at DePaul

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