Well, we’ve finally made it. The time that every college basketball fan looks forward to all year is upon us. With Cleveland State’s triumph over IU Indy last night, the five first-round games in the 2026 Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball Tournament are set. As for the Detroit Mercy Titans men’s basketball team, they head into the madness riding high.
The Titans were on the road for two monumental conference matchups to end their regular season. After faltering late against Robert Morris to bring their four-game win streak to an end, they took on metro-series rival Oakland in a huge game with massive seeding implications. Heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale, UDM was playing for their right to host a first-round tournament game.
The Titans controlled the majority of the first half, with everyone in the O’rena being treated to an episode of the TJ Nadeau show. The sophomore went off for 21 points in the first half. However, although they led 49-35, the Golden Grizzlies fired back, carrying a 7-0 run into the break to cut the lead to seven.
Going back and forth to start the second half, Detroit Mercy held a 61-53 lead with 15:42 left. But back-to-back triples from Brody Robinson forced a timeout from head coach Mark Montgomery, with his squad now leading by just two. The Titans failed to score out of the timeout, and a Brett White II three put Oakland in front for the first time all afternoon. After another empty possession was followed by a Tuburu Naivalurua dunk off an Isaac Garrett lob, Detroit Mercy found themselves down 64-61, and it looked as if they were doomed to another second-half collapse. A London Maiden bucket finally broke the scoring drought, and a TJ Nadeau desperation three at the shot-clock buzzer tied the game up at 66 with 9:37 left.
Enter Orlando Lovejoy.
The Titan senior scored 12 of his game-high 29 points in those final nine minutes. Lovejoy both knocked down his trademark midrange jumpers and got to the rim for acrobatic finishes to help his team hang in the game, as the Titans and Grizzlies traded punches. Leading 82-80, Lovejoy went on a 6-0 run by himself to stretch the lead to eight with 2:38 left. The red, white and blue would manage to hang on to a huge 95-89 win.
The duo of Lovejoy and Nadeau combined for a whopping 57 points; Lovejoy with his 29 and Nadeau with a career-high of 28. Lovejoy went 13-of-16 from the field, and Nadeau was 5-for-7 from behind the arc. Tyler Spratt added on 15, with eight of those coming in the final nine minutes. Legend Geeter made it four Titans in double-figures with 13, also adding six rebounds and six assists.
“The rivalry doesn’t start until you beat them, so I guess it started now,” said Mark Montgomery, who came into Saturday 0-3 against the Golden Grizzlies (who had also won four straight in the series, and 17 of the last 19). “We’re resilient, we played with great energy and great effort. We played together.”
Lovejoy gave a lot of credit to his team and his teammate when asked about the win:
“We all just stayed together the whole time. TJ carried us in the first half with his scoring and when they made a run in the second half, we didn’t let it finish us and we fought back.”
The importance of the win when it came to hosting a postseason game was not gone unnoticed either, with the Titans heading into things as the tournament three seed. This is significant, as it means Detroit Mercy is guaranteed to not have to play the extra game that the two worst-seeded winning teams from the opening round would have to play in. They will host the No. 8 seed Milwaukee tomorrow night, March 4th at 7 p.m. inside Calihan Hall.
The Titans swept the season-series over the Panthers in the regular season. Detroit Mercy were winners in a 91-86 decision in Calihan Hall a couple weeks ago in their most recent match-up, but as every fan knows, it’s difficult to beat a team three times. Orlando Lovejoy weighed in on what it would take for Detroit’s College Team to take care of business and book their trip to Indy for the tournament semi-finals.
“I think we stick to our same mentality when it comes to defense and rebounding, but the good thing about us is that every game, we’re a different team” the senior leader said. “You don’t know who’s going to go off and going into a game, teams don’t know what to expect so that makes us dangerous.”
The battle on the glass will certainly be one to watch out for, as Detroit Mercy and Milwaukee are second and third respectively in the Horizon League in overall rebounding.
The Titans have won seven of their last nine and enter the postseason at 15-14 overall and 12-8 in Horizon League play. A win tomorrow for their 16th victory would be the most for Detroit Mercy in a season since the 2015-16 campaign. All that being said, there’s just one more thing to say:
It’s finally March everyone. Time to let the madness unfold.
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