GREEN BAY, Wisc. (2/27/2025) -- Three Titans scored in double figures, but it was not enough as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team dropped a 76-71 decision at Green Bay on Thursday night.
Freshman
TJ Nadeau led the team with 15 points and eight rebounds. Junior
Orlando Lovejoy tallied 11 points, three assists and two steals and senior
Mak Manciel added 10 points.
The Titans (8-22, 4-15 HL) had a 10-point lead in the first half, but Green Bay (4-26, 2-17 HL) went on a run in the second and Detroit Mercy could not recover.
In the first half, Green Bay had a 14-11 lead, but the Titans surged ahead with a 12-0 run as the defense held the Phoenix to 0-of-7 from the field with two turnovers. Graduate senior
Emmanuel Kuac started the offensive output with a three and Manciel followed with one of his own. Freshmen
Nate Johnson and
Stephen Okoro had layups, and off a strong defensive rebound from Nadeau, Johnson threw it up to freshman
Miles Mitchell, who tipped it in and UDM had a 23-14 advantage at the 7:20 mark.
Detroit Mercy extended its lead to 10, 30-20, with 4:09 left in the half as Okoro got inside for two, Johnson nailed a three, and Kuac went to the rim for a bucket, but the Phoenix trimmed the margin to 33-30 at the break.
Green Bay tied the game at 35-35, but UDM went back in front on a jumper from Nadeau. Detroit Mercy went ahead by four as freshman
Chase Kuiper nailed a triple and Mitchell split a pair at the line to make it 43-39 with 12:06 remaining, and the red, white and blue had another lead at 46-44 as Nadeau had a layup and was fouled, connecting on the free throw at the 10:19 mark.
From there, Green Bay put together a 10-2 spurt for a 54-48 advantage with 7:35 left and extended it to as many as eight, 66-58, with 3:14 on the clock.
The Titans fought back to make it a one-possession game at 67-65 as offensive rebounds on two straight possessions led to layups from Johnson and freshman
Ryan Kalambay. Detroit Mercy was also down by just two, 72-70, as Manciel hit a three with 10 seconds left, but the Titans could not complete the comeback.
Kuac finished with seven points and eight rebounds. Kalambay had six points and seven boards and Johnson posted nine points, six rebounds and a career-high four assists.
UDM shot 43.1% from the field with eight 3-pointers, while outrebounding the Phoenix, 42-36. The defense held Green Bay to 37.7% from the field and just 6-of-21 from three, but had a 30-of-39 effort at the line.
The Titans will now get ready to face Milwaukee on Saturday, in a 4:00 p.m. start at UWM Panther Arena.
Game Notes:
- Detroit Mercy is now 9-22 all-time in Green Bay, dropping 11 of the last 12, as Green Bay leads the overall series, 38-32
- UDM will be the 10th seed in the upcoming Barbasol Horizon League Basketball Championships and will face either NKU or Oakland in the first round
- The Titans used their 16th different starting line-up - with four freshmen in the starting unit - as junior Legend Geeter missed the game with a lower-body injury
- Detroit Mercy has outrebounded teams 18 times this year, including the last six at Oakland (40-34), at Robert Morris (35-28), against Youngstown State (36-29), IU Indy (39-34), Cleveland State (37-33) and tonight at Green Bay (42-36)
- The Titans came into the game third in the Horizon League at the free-throw line at 74.4%
- Manciel was in double figures for the sixth time in his 10 games
- Lovejoy has now scored in double figures in 23 games, dished out at least three assists in 22 games and come away with at least one steal in 23 games this season
- Nadeau has now scored in double figures in nine games this season and has grabbed at least four rebounds in 12 contests
- Nadeau's season-high in points was 20 at Purdue Fort Wayne and his season-high in rebounds is nine at Wake Forest
- Johnson has tallied 12 games in double figures, 16 games with five or more rebounds, and eight games with at least two assists
- Kuac's career-high in rebounds is nine at Youngstown State earlier this year
- After posting just 37 points (1.9), 46 (2.4) rebounds and eight blocks in his first 19 games, Kalambay has 65 points (5.9), 65 boards (5.9) and 14 rejections in the last 11 games
- Kuiper hit his first two collegiate 3-pointers in the game
