Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team returned to the UPMC Events Center T
hursday, opening a stretch in which four of its next five will come at home by falling to Detroit Mercy, 79-62. The Colonials fell to 6-18 (.250) overall during the 2021-22 campaign, including 4-11 (.267) in the Horizon League.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
RMU jumped out to an early 10-3 and stretched its advantage to 16-9 at the 11:39 mark of the first half after sophomore guard
Chase Cook drove into the lane and hit a floater to cap a 6-0 spurt. The Titans responded by outscoring the Colonials, 25-7, over the next 10 minutes to open up a 34-23 lead with just a minute left before halftime. Detroit Mercy (10-11 / 7-4 #HLMBB) eventually owned a 37-27 cushion at the break as Antoine Davis, the all-time leading scorer for both Detroit Mercy and the Horizon League, scored 18 points in the opening 20 minutes to bolster the Titans.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we got off to a good start and had some good energy to start the game," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole said. "We have some standards within our program and the first one is sustained effort. We certainly weren't able to do that. When we don't guard or guard well, we struggle. That was the case in point tonight. (Detroit Mercy) makes a little over 12 three's a game at 45 percent in their wins, and they hit 13 at 41 percent tonight. We just couldn't get them off that line. They put so much pressure on you with Davis, and the other guys did their job, stepping up and hitting shots. You know Davis is going to get his, and you have to do your best to make sure those other guys don't get their opportunities. We weren't able to do that tonight."
DETROIT DAVIS
Davis scored a game-high 26 points, finishing 9-for-22 from the floor, including 6-for-15 from beyond the arc. He also added five rebounds. D.J. Harvey added 14 and Noah Waterman 11 for the Titans, combining to go 5-for-10 from beyond the arc. A total of 54.3 percent (31-of-57) of the shots for Detroit Mercy Thursday came from international waters. In the second half, the Titans converted 56.7 percent (17-for-30) of their shots from the floor, including 53.8 percent (7-for-13) from deep.
QUOTABLE
"I thought there were times tonight when we did a decent job on (Davis)," Toole said. "Twenty six points on 22 shots, that's a pretty decent job. He's meticulous about his prep. He goes to a foot away. He shoots 100 shots in the lane before he even gets to the three-point line. He builds it, over and over and over and over. He shoots like a 1,000 shots a day. It's a different level of preparation. Everyone wants the leash and the green that he has, but that's how you earn it. It's the amount of preparation he puts in before the game."
WORK YOUR WAY BACK
The Colonials closed to within 50-42 with 14:12 remaining after sophomore guard
Enoch Cheeks hit a three-pointer, but RMU went over seven minutes without scoring. Detroit Mercy took advantage, stretching its lead 63-42 before junior forward
Brandon Stone snapped the drought for RMU with a dunk off a feed from sophomore guard
Kam Farris.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Senior forward
Kahliel Spear paced the Colonials against the Titans in both points (15) and rebounds (7) while also notching an assist and two steals. He converted seven of his 11 attempts from the field while knocking down his only attempt at the free-throw line. Farris added 11 points off the bench for RMU, while junior guard
Michael Green III finished with 10 points and six assists.
HISTORY
Thanks to 18 points in the first half, Davis became just the fourth NCAA Division I student-athlete in the history of college basketball to eclipse 2,500 career points while his father served as his head coach. The other three in NCAA Division I history are Aliquippa, Pa., native Pete Maravich (3,667) of LSU, who was coached by Press Maravich, Doug McDermott (3,150) of Creighton, who was tutored by Greg McDermott, and Allan Houston (2,801) of Tennessee, who was coached by Wade Houston. Detroit Mercy's head coach is Mike Davis, who is in his fourth season as head coach of the Titans after previously leading Indiana (2000-06), UAB (2006-12) and Texas Southern (2012-18).
UP NEXT
RMU hosts Oakland Friday, Feb. 11, at the UPMC Events Center in a 7:00 p.m. tip before concluding the week Sunday, Feb. 13, at Youngstown State.
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