'A win is a win': Detroit Mercy snaps 0-26 losing skid with victory against IUPUI
Tony Paul
Detroit — Good news: Nobody is likely to remember this Detroit Mercy men's basketball season mere minutes after it ends, whenever it ends, let alone years.
That's what a single win will do for you.
The Titans came out of the gate scorching Wednesday night, and unlike so many games this season, they maintained the heat for much of the second half and held off a late push from IUPUI, 81-66, before a small but appreciative crowd that showed plenty of love on Valentine's Day at Calihan Hall.
The win means Detroit Mercy won't become the first Division I men's team to go winless in more than a decade, COVID season not included. Grambling State was 0-27 in 2012-13.
Mississippi Valley State remains the nation's lone winless team this season, at 0-24.
Detroit Mercy (1-15 Horizon League) came into Wednesday night's game with an 0-26 record, but actually was favored by the sports-betting market, from anywhere from five to six points, proving, again, that Vegas just knows. And for the first time this season, the Titans walked off the court with smiles plastered all over their faces. One fan, yes, a single fan, hilariously "stormed" the court as the final seconds ticked away, his arms raised.
"It just means that they're still working hard, they haven't quit," Detroit Mercy athletic director Robert Vowels, who sat courtside with university president Donald Taylor, said of the Titans players.
"And good for them."
IUPUI (6-21, 2-14) has now lost seven straight, and 12 of its last 13.
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Senior guard Jayden Stone, the Horizon League's leading scorer, caught fire in the second half and finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-for-20 shooting to lead the Titans.
Sophomore guard Marcus Tankersley, one consistent (and always healthy) performer for the Titans this season, again had a night with 19 points, on 5-for-8 shooting, despite sitting for several minutes in the second half after picking up a fourth foul barely five minutes into the closing 20 minutes.
Junior guard Mak Manciel, a Detroit native, scored 14.
Graduate-student forward Edoardo Del Cadia had nine points, four steals, a block and some big rebounds late, when IUPUI was trying to make a final surge.
Even walkon Tobin Schwannecke (Traverse City) got in on the act, scoring five points in the first half, including the first made 3 of his Detroit Mercy career. The Detroit Mercy bench erupted when that went in from Schwannecke, a former Grand Valley State football player, to give Detroit Mercy a 38-22 lead.
The Titans' previous largest lead in any game this season was 11.
"I'm just grateful we fought it out. A win is a win," said Stone, who hadn't played in a Detroit Mercy win since Dec. 20, 2022, having missed the second half of last season. "We're just focused on March. Just trying to get better from last week."
Detroit Mercy head coach Mike Davis, who has openly criticized his team's work ethic and heart in interviews with The News throughout this season, said the effort has been better in the last couple of weeks, despite the team continuing to be shorthanded in scholarship players.
One surprise step-up player has been Schwannecke, especially Wednesday, as he played relentless defense in extended minutes with Tankersley in foul trouble.
After Tankersley went out with the fourth foul, IUPUI found some life and cut the deficit to 12, before Manciel made a free throw, graduate-student swingman Emmanuel Kuac made a huge defensive play on a wide-open IUPUI layup, then Stone followed up with a 3 to push the lead back to 14, 56-42.
Manciel followed with a 3 of his own, his fourth of the game, to make it 59-42 with 11 minutes left.
The Titans led by as many as 19, and the lead seemed secure for much of the second half.
But it got cut to 10 with 5:18 left, on a 3-pointer by IUPUI sophomore guard DJ Jackson, then an IUPUI steal, and a fastbreak layup by Jackson to make it 71-61.
At the timeout huddle, a Detroit Mercy coach yelled at the players, "They got it to 10, boys."
Another IUPUI steal out of the timeout led to another fast-break bucket, to make it 71-63.
Detroit Mercy settled things down, when Tankersley drew a foul, made both free throws, and pushed the lead back to 10. It never dipped into single digits again.
A tough Tankersley driving layup made it 76-63 with 3 minutes left, and an IUPUI goaltending on a Stone drive made it 78-63 with 2 minutes, 34 seconds left, as the Detroit Mercy bench began to feel it.
Detroit Mercy led, 44-29, at the half, and headed to the locker room to a nice ovation from the crowd.
The win was Detroit Mercy's first in 351 days, as the long skid finally turned to dust on this Ash Wednesday. The win ended the Titans' 27-game losing streak, which dated all the way back to last season's Horizon League tournament.
"My wife always makes me a coffee before I go to bed. It always tastes pretty good," said Davis, whose future with the Titans has been a hot topic of speculation in recent weeks – he’s in Year 6 of a seven-year contract.
"Tonight, the coffee will taste really good."
Wednesday's game also marked the first home game for Detroit Mercy since the death of Titans legend Earl "The Twirl" Cureton on Feb. 4 at the age of 66.
Detroit Mercy honored him with a moment of silence before the game, and Titans players wore black "EC" patches on the left chest of their jerseys. Radio voice Dan Hasty did the game standing up, in a tribute to Cureton, who often stood with Hasty during broadcasts as a superstition if the Titans were playing well.
The Titans are planning a halftime remembrance for Cureton at Saturday's home game against Purdue Fort Wayne. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at Calihan Hall.
Jackson led IUPUI with 17 points, and junior guard Jlynn Counter had 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
@tonypaul1984