INDIANAPOLIS (3/10/2026) - The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team saw its rejuvenated program come up just short of a NCAA bid as the Titans fell to #1 Wright State, 66-63, on Tuesday night in the Barbasol #HLMBB Championship.
The trip to the finals was the ninth in school history and the first since winning it all in 2012.
The third-seeded Titans made a run to the championship with wins over #8 Milwaukee, 84-63, and #2 Robert Morris, 70-64, and ended the year with a 17-15 record, the most wins since 2012-13, as well as a winning record for a full season for the first time since 2015-16.
Senior
Orlando Lovejoy led the way with a game-high 26 points, four rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Sophomore
TJ Nadeau ended with 21 points - 16 in the second half - and senior
Legend Geeter had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Wright St (23-11) led by nine, 25-16, with 5:46 left in the first when the Titans went on a 13-1 run to end the stanza with a 29-26 advantage. Sophomore
Ryan Kalambay started it with a layup, and then Lovejoy netted seven straight points to knot it at 25-25. After a WSU free throw, Nadeau hit a jumper, and Lovejoy went to the rim for a driving layup as time expired for the three-point lead.
In the second half, UDM extended the run to 25-5 for a 41-30 score at the 14:54 mark. Nadeau scored 10 straight in that stretch, and Lovejoy had a basket for the 11-point lead.
After Wright State got within six, the Titans scored six in a row for a 49-37 lead with 9:52 left.
From there, the Raiders started to chop away, tying the game at 54-54 at the 3:40 mark. Two free throws by Lovejoy had the team back ahead, 56-54, but WSU answered with eight in a row, and the Titans could never reclaim the lead.
UDM had one final attempt at a win or tie as it was down by two with nine seconds left, but Lovejoy drove to the rim, and his shot was blocked, ending all hopes of a comeback.
Kalambay finished with two points, seven rebounds, and two blocks. Freshman
Lance Stone had two points, and junior
London Maiden grabbed four boards.
Following the game, Lovejoy and Geeter were named to the All-Tournament Team, the first for the Titans since Ray McCallum, Jason Calliste, and LaMarcus Lowe in 2012 to earn that honor.
Game Notes:
- Wright State leads the overall series, 45-29, and 6-4 in the postseason
- In the last 15 years, the third seed has made the finals in 2012 (UDM), 2013 (WSU), 2014 (WSU), 2016 (WSU), 2021 (OAK), 2022 (NKU), 2023 (CSU), and 2026
- At 17-15, Detroit Mercy clinched its first winning season since the 12-10 mark in the 2020-21 pandemic season, when coach Montgomery was on staff as an assistant, but the first with a full slate of games since 16-15 in 2014-15.
- Detroit Mercy led the HL and came into the game 27th in the nation at the free-throw line at 77.2%, posting double-digit made free throws in 26 games
- Nadeau netted double figures in 21 of his 31 games and tallied nine 20-point games on the year
- Nadeau ended the season leading UDM with 70 triples
- Nadeau now has 712 points and 118 3-pointers through two seasons
- Lovejoy tallied nine 20-point games on the year and ended the season scoring in double figures in 12-straight games
- Lovejoy ended his collegiate career with 1,372 points, 319 assists, and 169 steals, posting a pair of 30-point performances and 18, 20-point efforts
- Lovejoy ended the season tied for sixth with Anton Wilson in school history at 89.2% at the free-throw line (141-of-158) as well as third in school history overall at 88.0% (258-of-293) behind Antoine Davis (89.2) and Archie Tullos (88.1)
- Geeter was in double figures for the eighth time this year
- Geeter ended his career with 785 points, 521 rebounds, and 176 assists
- Geeter ended the year with at least five rebounds in 22 games, including 13 of the last 14
- Kalambay finished the season with 42 blocks, the most since Chris Brandon had 44 in 2019-20
- Kalambay grabbed at least five rebounds in 20 of his last 22 games
