Coming into Monday night’s game against Wright State, the Titans needed a victory at home to keep themselves in the thick of the Horizon League Championship race. They had to be the tough, offensive minded Titans we’ve all become accustomed to under coach Ray McCallum. They were not those Titans at all. Instead they were the inconsistent Titans that have plagued this team all year long. At times they had great offensive spurts, but other times they played like a middle school team. Losing the ball. Making atrocious passes. Failing to play any type of meaningful defense.

As the game tipped off shortly after 7p.m. in the Motor City, Wright State would jump out to a quick 12-2 lead. McCallum would bench his starters immediately after he called his first timeout. Once the Raiders took the lead, they never relinquished in. They had the lead for more than 39 minutes of the game. Only once did the Titans even tie the game. They were out performed in nearly every statistical category. This is something that has occurred often this year for Juwan Howard Jr. and company.

The Raiders offense came out firing on all cylinders as they took a sporting 28-13 lead with just 6 minutes left in the half. They scored those 28 points on 10 of 15 shooting from the field including five of eight from three-point range. An irritated McCallum would then call a time out, hoping to get his guys’ heads into the game. That timeout was exactly what the Titans needed because Anton Wilson came out and immediately hit a 3 pointer along with drawing a foul. The four-point play put a spark not only in the crowd, but in the Titans too. A few trips later, Wilson cut to the basket for a reverse dunk and the crowd erupted as if there was a packed Calihan Hall on this cold January night.

The Titans finished the last two minutes on an 8-0 run to finish the half down 33-27. While the Titans were finally back in the game, their two leading scorers were not. Paris Bass and Juwan Howard Jr. average over 30 points a game combined, but finished the half scoreless. These two had to click if Mercy wanted any shot at a win.

They would not click much at all during the second half and the Titans would struggle early as they had the first half. The Titans as a team had one of their worst performances of the year. Wright State caused Detroit to turn the ball over 16 times by playing a pesky zone. They also held Detroit to 18 of 45 (40%).

As bad as the Titans played Monday night, they still had a chance to make this a game as they pulled within five points mid way through the second half…that was as close as they would get though. The Raiders put together just enough offensive scoring spurts to keep the Titans far enough away from keeping this game close. The Titans would soon receive a technical foul on Howard Jr. that would give whatever little momentum they had left to the Raiders. They would make both free-throws and then find an open Benzinger to hit one of his five threes on the night. Paris Bass would later receive a technical foul as the frustration set in during the final moments of the game.

The Raiders would take this game by eleven, defeating the Titans 64-53. They had just handed the Titans their 3rd loss in 4 games as they walked off with cheerful smiles. Grant Benzinger and Kendall Griffin would finish the game as the top two scoring leaders for the night with 18 and 20 points respectively. While Howard Jr, who’s 3rd in scoring in the Horizon League, finished with just 4 points on 2 of 10 shooting. Paris didn’t finish with much better of a game, scoring 7 points on 2 of 6 shooting. On a night where much didn’t go right for the Titans, watching Wilson was one of the few bright spots. The 6’5” guard out of Flint, Michigan finished his night with 15 points and 4 rebounds.

In McCallum’s postgame, the message was clear. He said, “ Our message is if you’re going to be a player in this league you have to win at home.” A message that seemed centered around Howard Jr. and Bass as both had some of their worst games as college players. McCallum finished the interview by saying, “This is the grind time. This separates the men from the boys. We’ve been playing hard. When you look at the standings, when we’ve play Valpo, we’ve played the whole league.” At this point it doesn’t matter who the Titans have or haven’t played nor does it matter who they’ve beat. All that matters is the next game at home thursday against Youngstown St. If this team wants to make another NCAA Tournament appearance, Howard and company must play their best ball of the year, and most importantly stay consistent.