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 No. 1 Wright State, 66-63, on Tuesday night in the Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball 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 in his final game for the Titans.
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.