Antoine Davis finished 3 points short of the NCAA record all-time scoring in a loss to Detroit Mercy

From the Detroit Mercy Athletics website:

Detroit – Alumnus Antoine Davis nearly hit a triple-double and finished with 38 points as the University of Detroit Mercy men’s basketball team advanced to the Barbasol Horizon League men’s basketball championship with an 81-68 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday.

The nation’s leading scorer not only scored 38 points on 14-of-27 from the field and 6-of-13 from three, but he recorded a career-high eight rebounds for a team-high eight assists and four steals. He now has 3,642 points, 25 short of tying and 26 shy of breaking Pete Maravich’s NCAA record of 3,667. He also has 155 three-pointers on the year, tied for fourth in NCAA history and seven just short of the single-season mark 162 by Stephen Curry in 2007-08.

The Giants (14-18, 9-11 HL) will now head to top seed Youngstown State on Thursday in the Quarterfinals.

Alumnus senior Damsey Anderson scored 11 points with four rebounds, and senior alumni AJ Oliver had nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Freshman Marcus Tankersley scored a career-high 12 points with five rebounds and three steals, while Gerald Liddell had two points, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

Detroit Mercy led 41-36 just four minutes into the second period, but blew the game open with a 19-2 run over the next five minutes. The Purdue defense held Fort Wayne (17-15, 9-11 AH) to 0-of-7 from the field with two turnovers in that period, while the Titans were 7-of-10 with four of them from long range.

Oliver started the surge with a three steal from Davis and then Tankersley and Oliver hit the ball twice in a row, the latter fouled and made a free throw for the three game for a 48-36 lead. Anderson then hit three straight tackles to extend the rinse to 13 straight points and a 55-26 advantage with 11:48 left. After Purdue hit Fort Wayne 1 of 2 on the line, Anderson fell for another three and again the mastodons split before Davis’ team went up 60-38 with 10:20 remaining.

Detroit Mercy would never see their lead fall below double digits the rest of the way as the Mastodons made it within 12, 60-48, but Davis scored eight straight points to put them ahead by 20 points again at 68-48 by five points. minutes to go.

Both teams were very slow to start with Detroit Mercy being 1 of 7 and Purdue Fort Wayne being 2 of 7 in the first few minutes.

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The game was tied at 16-16 midway through the period when the Titans were 8-0. Davis started with a triple and then Tankersley came up with a steal and layup before Davis made another triple to make it 24-16 with 7:59 to go.

The Mastodons cut it to three, 24-21, when Tankersley had another layup and Davis followed with one, fouled, and the free throw conversion resulted in a 29-21 advantage with 3:46 left. The lead rose to 10, 34-24, on another Tankersley bucket and three by Oliver with 2:09 left, and the Giants had a 34-26 margin at the break.

Detroit Mercy shot 47.5% from the field (29-of-61), 10-of-25 (40.0%) from three and 13-of-16 (81.3%) at the free throw line. The Giants also won by a total of 37-34 and had 10 steals, while holding Purdue to Fort Wayne to 38.3%.

The Titans and Penguins will depart at 8:00 PM Thursday at the Begley Center.

Game notes:

• Detroit Mercy now leads the all-time series, 5-4, and 4-2 at home
• The Titans are 3-2 at home against the Mastodons, and have dominated the first leg of the season, 85-52
• Detroit Mercy is now 38-39 all-time in the HL postseason, with eight trips to the title game (1988, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2012) and three championships (1994, 1999, 2012)
• The Titans are a perfect 9-0 all time in home playoff games
• Detroit Mercy now has three wins over the same team for the 11th time in school history
• The Titans won their first ever game as the eighth seed in the playoffs as they are now 1-3 all-time
• The eighth seed in the Horizon League after the season is now 14-31 all-time, with two trips to the title game at Wright State in 1994-95 and Cleveland State in 2017-18.
• The Titans have had the same starting five in 11 straight games heading into tonight’s game, the longest streak under the head coach. Mike Davis and the longest by the Titans since the five themselves—Joan Howard Jr., Doug Anderson, Nick Meinrath, Jason Kallist and Ray McCallum—at 26 in a row in 2012-13
• Detroit Mercy outscored opponents 23 times on the season and in 11 straight games as the Titans entered third in the contest in the HL with 36.5 rebounds per game and lead the HL and tenth in the country with 13.1 offensive rebounds per contest.
• Detroit Mercy has called on double-digit triples in 19 games and is first in the HL and tenth in the nation at 39.1% from three, as well as first in the HL and sixth in the DI at 10.4 per game
• The Titans have connected in double-digit free throws in 21 games this season as they are third in the Horizon League and 27th in free throw percentage.
• It was the head coach’s 411th win Mike Davis142nd in NCAA DI history and one short of 141
• Davis currently leads the nation in scoring (28.3 ppg), total points made (908), 3 total made made (155), 3 made made per game (4.89) and total field goals (296)
• The only Titan to lead the nation in NCAA statistic was Spencer Haywood, who averaged 22.1 rebounds in 1968-69, while his current average of 28.3 points would be the second-highest in school history behind Haywood’s 32.1 in 1968-69 and the highest in school history. HL
• Davis has now reached double figures in all 143 of his collegiate games, an NCAA record for total and consecutive games
• Davis now has 104 20-point games, 40 30-point games, and eight 40-point contests in 143 games — hitting 17 points in 125 of them.
• Davis entered the game third all-time in NCAA history with 4.07 three-point field goals per game and led the nation this year with 4.83 per contest.
• He now has 21 games of the year with four or more three-pointers, and has made three in 138 of 143 collegiate games, with 81 career games with four or more triples, 33 with six or more, 17 games with seven or more, and five straight overs. 10 or more
• Davis ranks third in Titan history with 592 assists, 19th behind Wilbert McCormick and 23 behind the record holder. Kevin McAdoo 615 as is
• Second player in NCAA history to amass 3,000 points and 500 assists, joining St. Peter’s Kedren Clark (2002-2006)
• Davis now has 1,212 field goals, just three behind Houston’s Elvin Hayes and four behind Kansas’ Danny Manning to move into the top six in NCAA history.
• Liddell has now stopped at least one shot in 14 games this season
• Anderson has now scored in double figures in nine of his last 13 games and 18 on the year
• Oliver has now had at least five rebounds in six straight games and 17 on the season and had a season-best nine twice.
• Tankersley’s previous high in points was 10 at Cleveland State
• She was a sophomore Beautiful Pink First professional start
• Detroit played with TJ Moss (leg) f Arachma Gardens (disease) listed day by day