NCAA scoring leader Antoine Davis fell just short of breaking Pete Maravich’s long-held scoring record.
Davis, a graduate senior, scored 22 points as Detroit Mercy lost 71-66 to top-seeded and host Youngstown State in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament on Thursday.
Davis, a graduate senior, increased his career total to 3,664 points, three shy of Maravich’s record total.
The defeat likely was the final game of the season for the Titans (14-19, 9-11 Horizon).
Maravich set the record in three seasons (1968-70) at LSU. He played in the days before the implementation of the 3-point shot and the shot clock, and he reached the mark in just 83 games, averaging 44.2 points per game.
Davis has played in 144 games for the Titans, who are coached by his father, Mike Davis. The school already has retired Antoine Davis’ jersey.
On Thursday, he also ending up just shy of the single-season record for most 3-point shots made. Stephen Curry set the record of 162 at Davidson in the 2007-08 season. Davis was just 4 of 16 from long range against Youngstown State, leaving him 159 of 386 (41.2 percent).
Davis is averaging 28.2 points per game this season, nearly five points better than Jordan Dingle of Penn, who is No. 2 in the nation.
In Detroit Mercy’s first-round tournament game, Davis scored 38 points in the 81-68 win over Purdue Fort Wayne. He has scored at least 30 points in eight of his past nine games.
Maravich died Jan. 5, 1988, of heart failure at age 40. After LSU, he played 10 seasons in the NBA, averaging 24.2 points per game. He led the NBA in scoring in 1976-77 as a member of the New Orleans Jazz, averaging 31.1 points.
He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in May 1987, just nine months before his death.
–Field Level Media
